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historical ® l^acts 




historical # Y^aets 



A/^T) 



TUBILUUfi IKIIIDEIITii 



OF THE 









NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y.: 
Journal Print, 



Preface. 



The Falls of Niag-ara are among tlie 
most wonderful works of nature, and 
since their first discovery by Father 
Hennepin in 1678, rich and poor, high 
and low, kings and piebians, have done 
homage to this wonder of wonders. All 
nations of the world have furnished 
their quota of tourists to this center of 
attraction. Consequently many stirring 
events have taken place in this vicinity, 
which prove the old adage that " Truth 
is stranger than fiction." The Niagara 
Frontier is rich in historical facts, many 
battles having been fought near the 
boundary line in the early days. The 
writer, who has lived within the roar of 
the mighty Cataract for more than half 
a century, is well acquainted with some 
of the incidents herein narrated, and 
the facts contained in this book have 
been secured from the mo&t authentic 
sources. The book will be found very 
valuable to all interested in our Frontier 
Hi»tory, and will supply a want long 
felt by the traveling public. 



Huf 



^be n^^^^^^ Rii?er. 



This picturesque river extends from 
Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, a distance 
of thirty-six miles, and through it pas- 
ses all the waters of the grreat lakes of 
the west, includinpj Lakes Superior, 
Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie, 
forming the largest and fiaest body of 
fresh water in the world. It has a fall 
from Lake Erie to the Falls of 68 feet 
on the American and 78 on the Canadian 
side. The American fall is 160 feet 
high and the Canadian or horse-shoe 
fall is 150 feet in height. From the 
base of the falls to Lewiston, a distance 
of seven miles, there is a fall of 104 
feet: and from Lewiston to the mouth 
of the river at Lake Ontario, a distance 
of seven miles more, there is a fall of two 
feet, making a fall of iJM feet from lake 
to lake. 

This river is dotted with numerous 
beautiful islands, thirty six in all, the 
largest of which is Grand Island con- 
taining about eleven thousand acres of 
laud. But the one which is of the mos* 
interest to the tourist is Goat Island, 
which divides the Amei-ican from the 
Canadian or horse-shoe fall, and is now 
included in the State Reservation. 

As the river is the dividing line be- 
tween the United States and Canada, 
many stirring scenes have taken place 
near its shores. Numerous and bloody 
battles have been fought within its 
vicinity. For more than a hundrerl 
years there was war between France and 
England, and the contest did not cease 



until 1703, when French rule in North 
America was wiped out. So that from 
the earliest days of the rule of the 
American aborigines to the close of our 
own war of 1812, its borders have been 
the scenes of many conflicts and of deeds 
of heroism and valor. 



^be Qpiffin. 



Five miles above the falls, near the 
mouth of Cayuga Creek, is a village 
called LaSalle, so named after LaSalle, 
who, in company with father Hennepin, 
built the first boat at this place that 
ever sailed on the great lakes. The 
boat was called the Griffin and was 
about sixty tons burden. It was early 
in the year 1678 that the work of build- 
ing this vessel began under great dif- 
ficulties. The savages hovered around 
the ship builders, and entered the camp 
with a lack of ceremony rather alarm- 
ing. They refused to sell their corn, 
and plotted to burn the vessel on the 
stocks. Suffering from cold, and often 
from hunger, fearing always a hostile 
descent of the savages, the men became 
discontented, and it required Father 
Hennepin's utmost endeavors to allay 
their fears. Meanwhile LaSalle was at 
Frontenac, whither he had returned 
after driving the first bolt of the brig- 
antine, endeavoring to counteract the 
efforts of his enemies who were spread- 
ing reports that he was about to engage 
in an extremely dangerous undertaking, 
enormously expensive and yielding but 
little hope of his return. Their rumors 
so alarmed his creditors in Quebec and 



Montreal that tlaey seized upon his 
-effects there and sold them out at great 
Joss to him. The delay which would be 
necessary to rectify this would prevent 
the success of his expedition, for this 
year at least, so he submitted patiently 
to his misfortunes. 

At last the ship was ready and his 
other preparations were complete. On 
the seventh day of August, 1679, the 
■sails of the Griffin were spread to the 
winds of Lake Erie, and making fear- 
lessly for the midst of the great fresh 
water sea, they descried, on the third 
day the islands in the western end. A 
storm beset them in Huron, and with 
the usual bitterness of the followers of 
great explorers, many of his men com- 
plained of the dangers into which they 
had been led. They escaped from the 
storm, however, but only to meet with 
new difficulties. Their first object was 
to make a favorable impression upon 
the Indians, whose friendship was so 
necessary to their success ; but this task 
was harder than they had anticipated. 
While the natives received and enter- 
tained LaSalle with great civility and 
looked in wonder at the great wooden 
<;anoe, their show of friendship was 
more politic than sincere, and produced 
aio effect upon their future conduct. 
Nor was this the only disadvantage 
under which they labored. Fifteen 
men had been sent forward to collect 
provisions, but had been tamp- 
ered with, and had squandered 
n part of the merchandise 
with which they had been provided for 
trading. However, hoping that some 
would prove faithful to their trust, a 
belief which later events justified, they 
continued on their course. 



On his way across the lakes, LaSalle 
marked Detroit as a suitable place for 
a colony, gave name to Lake St. Clair, 
planted a trading house at Mackinaw, 
and finally cast anchor at Green Bay. 
Here, to retrieve his fortune, he col- 
lected a rich cargo of furs, and sent 
back his brig to carry them io Niagara. 
But unfortunately, the brig, with the 
cargo, was lost on her way down the 
lakes, and no reliable information was 
ever obtained of her fate. 



^he old S^one G^>i'""€:i/*. 



On the American side of the river, 
about one and a half miles above the 
falls, there is still standing an old chim- 
ney as a relic of scenes of strife in 
days that are past and gone. This 
chimney stands on land now owned by 
the Cataract Construction Company and 
within a quarter of a mile of the power 
house of the great tunnel. We under- 
stand they intend to preserve it. It was 
built by the French in 1750. And close 
by are still marks of old Fort Schlosser, 
which was then called Fort DuPortage. 
All of which was destroyed by fire in 
1759, the French making their escape 
into Canada when being threatened 
with an attack by the British under Sir 
Wm. Johnson who had just captured 
Fort Niagara. But this chimney was 
so substantially constructed that it 
passed through the fire unharmed. 
Soon after this the fort and barracks 
were rebuilt by the English troops 
under command of Captain Joseph 
Schlosser, a German who served in the 



7. 



British army and was afterwards pro- 
moted to the rank of colonel, and died 
in the Fort. An oak slab on which his 
name was cut was standing at his grave 
just above the fort as late as the year 
1808. On the west side of the aforesaid 
chimney are still standing some of the 
surviving trees of the first apple 
orchard set out in this region, and as 
early as 1796 it was described as being a 
well fenced orchard, containing 1200 
trees, only a few of which are now re- 
maining. The building which was 
erected by the English to the old chim- 
ney was afterwards used as a dwelling 
house by diflferent persons, among whom 
w as the late Judge Porter, who occu- 
pied it in the years of 1806,-7-8, when he 
removed to the Porter homestead on 
Buffalo street. This building was 
afterwards converted into a tavern for 
the accommodation of visitors to the 
Falls and travelers en route to the west, 
and was so occupied when again destroy- 
ed in 1813 by the British who made a 
raid on this side of the river. Some of 
the inmates made their escape by hiding 
in a deep ditch running through a large 
meadow on the east side of the house, 
and others, thinking to make their 
escape by way of the orchard on the 
west side, were met by the Indians, who 
lay in ambush, and were either killed or 
taken prisoner. 

Afterwards another building was put 
to the old chimney which was used for 
a farm house for many years, in which 
the writer had the pleasure of eating 
some good meals that were cooked in 
the fire place of the " Old Stone Chim- 
ney," which has withstood the storms of 
nearly 150 years and passed through a 
fiery ordeal at three different times^ 



8. 



The Hon. T. V. Welch, who has 
taken a deep interest in (,ur frontier 
history, has composed the following 

verses : 

Beside Niagara's lovely stream 

An old stone chimney stands, 
In winter's blast, and summer's beam, 

Above the river sands ; 
Oft on the hearth in childhood's day, 

A glowing fire was made. 
And in the summer gray, 

'Kound the old stone chimney played. 

Chorus :— 

Touch not the old stone chimney; 

Our grandsire's long ago. 
Their youthful bride's beside that hearth. 

Loved in the cheerful glow ; 
Touch not the old stone chimney, 

Where the red man used to dwell. 
Where the pioneer and his sweetheart dear. 

They sleep, they sleep, so well. 

The fire-light fell, on the children there. 

And youth dreamt in its blaze; 
And gentle wives, and daughters fair. 

Sweethearts of other days; 
Oft since that day, has love held sway, 

And plighted hearts and hands; 
Beside Niagara's winding way, 

Where the old stone chimney stands. 

Chorus. 

Long may the old stone chimney stand 

Upon Niagara's shore; 
The sons of France, and Britain's band. 

They battle there no more; 
The pioneer and sweetheart's dear, 

Are sleeping on the hill. 
Where lone the old stone chimney stands. 

In the evening gi-ay and still. 

Chorus. 



The Gcimpaign of ITSQ, 



It is uot the intention to give a com- 
plete history of the French and English 
war, but simply so much of it as is of 
local interest and some of the results. 
The campaign of 1759 had for its object 
the entire reduction of Canada. After 
the disaster of Ticonderoga, the chief 
command of the British forces was 
given to Gen. Amherst. The army was 
divided into three parts, exhibiting the 
following order: The first division, 
under Wolf, was to make a direct attempt 
upon Quebec. The second, under 
Amherst, was ordered to take Ticonder- 
oga and Crown Point, and then proceed 
northerly; and the third, under Gen. 
Prideaux, consisting of provincials and 
ludians. was to reduce Niagara, then to 
go down the St. Lawrence, and, jointly 
with the second detachment, attack 
Montreal Thus the several detach- 
ments were to enter Canada by different 
routes, but were all destined, eventually, 
to meet before Quebec, and it was 
against that keystone of the arch, which 
sustained the French power in America, 
that that the grand final effort was to be 
made. 

Prideaux besieged Niagara on the 1st 
of July. He was killed on the 15th by 
the bursting of a 'il-pound brass mortar 
and the command devolved upon Sir. 
William Johnson. The French and 
Indians, numbering about 1200, came to 
the relief of the garrisonand gave battle 
to the English, but the Indians in their 
alliance deserted them in the heat of the 
engagement, and victory was declared 
in favor of the English. On the 25th of 
July the garrison consisting of 600 men, 
fell into the hands of the British, who 



10. 



now possessed this important post, bar- 
ring all communications between the 
northern and southern possessions of 
the French. We can not give a narra- 
tive of all ©f the different battles in this 
campaign, which were truly important, 
but simply say that this war did not 
cease until the treaty of peace was. 
declared in Paris on February 10th, 
17G3, when England got undisputed 
possession (except by the IndiausJ) ol 
the whole continent, i'rom the shores of 
the Gulf of Mexico to the frozen north, 
and from ocean to ocean. 



Indian Strategjf, 



In 1763, Pontiac, a sagacious Ottawa 
chief, and a former ally of the French, 
thought that if the English could 
be subdued before they could gain 
a firm foot-hold, the Indians would 
again be lords of the forest. For this 
purpose he secretly effected a con- 
federation of several of the north-west- 
ern tribes of Indians, and on the 7th of 
July nine of the British forts were 
captured by them, which were all of the 
forts west of Oswego, excepting Fort 
Niagara, Fort Pitt and Detroit. Pon- 
tiac had arranged the following plans of 
strategy: At Maumee, the command- 
ing officer was lured forth by piteous 
entreaties of a squaw, who feigned to 
plead for a wounded man dying without 
the fort, and he was immediately shot 
by Indians in ambush. 

At Mackinaw, a more important post, 
the Indians had gathered by hundreds. 
They began among themselves a spirited 



11. 



*?ame of ball. One of the two partioa 
who played, drove the other, as if by 
accident, towards the palisades which 
inclosed the grounds of the fort. They 
came on, shouting and sporting, and 
the soldiers went forth to view the 
game. iVt length the ball was thrown 
over the pickets, and the Indians jumped 
after it within the inclosure. Then 
began the butchery. The soldiers of 
the garrison, appalled and unprepared, 
could make no resistance. The com- 
mander, Major Henry, was writing 
within his room. He heard tie Indian 
war-cry, and the shrieks of the murder- 
ed; and from the window he saw four- 
hundred savages cutting down with 
their tomahawks, his dearest friends. 
He saw them scalped while yet in their 
death struggles, their necks beneath 
their feet, or their heads held between 
the knees of the scalpers. They had 
already taken the fort, but Henry him- 
self, through some strange perils, es- 
caped to relate the horrible scene. 

Pontiac chose to command in person 
at Detroit, that post being regarded as 
the key to the upper countr3^ On the 
Gth, the Indians, to the number of six 
hundred, had collected in the woods 
around the fort. In the evening a squaw 
who had been kindly treated, betrayed 
to Major Gladwyn, the commander, the 
designs of the savages. On the 7th, 
Pontiac, with a party of his chiefs, 
presented themselves as in peace, de- 
siring to hold a council with the officers 
within the fort. They were admitted, 
but to their surprise, they were im- 
mediately surrounded by the gariison, 
fully armed. Major Gladwyn approach- 
ed Pontiac, and lifting his blanket found a 
short rifle concealed beneath it. Thus 
unexpectedly discovered, Pontiac him- 



12. 



self was disconcerted. The Indians 
from without were not let in; but the 
chief escaped, or was suffered to go 
forth. 

He then beseiged the fort, holding the 
garrison confined for many months, and 
cutting off supplies and reinforcements. 
At length his allies grew weary of war, 
and peace was declared. Pontiac died 
three years afterwards. 



pev)irs ^ole TVl^ssacre, 



The Devil's Hole is a picturesque 
place on the American side, about a 
mile below the Whirlpool. It is here 
where on the 14th of September, 17G3, 
the Seneca Indians, smarting under 
English rule, lay in ambush for a 
British supply train on its way from 
Schlosser to Lewiston. And as the 
doomed company carelessly filed 
along the brink of the chasm, a mur- 
derous volley was fired ' by the hidden 
savages, who then sprang forth thirty or 
forty to one of the survivers, and but- 
chered them with tomahawk and scalp- 
ing knife. Crazed by the din of fire- 
arms and the yells of the savages, part 
of the teams went off' the rocky wall; 
and even the men in some cases, - rather 
than be hacked to pieces on the spot or 
roasted at the stake, flung themselves 
from the cliff". Among the latter was a 
drummer boy named Mathews, who fell 
into a tree top, from which he descended 
without mortal injuries. It is said that 
<mly three survived this savage onset. 
John Steadman, who commanded the 
supi)ly train, seeing the fatal snare at 



13. 

the first fire of the Indians, spurred his 
horse throuojh the leaden hail and made 
his escape, reaching Fort Schlosser in 
safety. A wounded soldier concealed 
himself in the dense evergreen bushes 
and thus escaped the knife and the 
hatchet; and the drummer boy who was 
saved by lodging in the tree top. 
These were the only ones left to tell the 
sad tale. 

The firing had been heard by the 
guard posted at the lower landing, and 
suspecting the state of the case they 
hastened up the Portage Road. The 
savages had time to complete the de- 
struction of the train and its escort and 
ensconce themselves again in the bush- 
es, with rifles reloaded and tomahawks 
all ready, before the reinforcements 
reached the spot, when the massacre 
was renewed. A shower of bullets from 
the thicket tore through the close lines 
of the detachment, felling more than 
one half of the troops; again the thirsty 
savages, sallying from their cover, 
swarmed around their prey, and the 
scalping knives yet dripping with blood 
from their latest use, were bathed anew 
in human gore. Only eight men es- 
caped with their lives, who bore the 
horrible tidings to Fort Niagara. The 
number of killed is variously estimated 
as being from 80 to 250, 

The little rivulet falling into the glen, 
and called Bloody Run, first became 
such on that dreadful day when its 
waters were crimsoned by the butchery 
upon its banks. The passerby now 
looks from his carriage down the gloomy 
pit, which yawns close beside the road- 
way, into the bristling treetops that hide 
its lowest depths, and shudder to think 
of the situation of the men who judged it 
best to cast themselves into this deep 



14. 



and rugcrecl chasm. Yet one who made 
this choice long outlived every other 
actor in this awful trao^edy— the drum- 
mer Mathews— who died in Queenston 
at the advanced a^^e of 90 years. 



T'uscapora Reservation. 



About seven miles northeast of Nia^iara 
Falls, is situated the Tuscarora Indian 
Reservation. History tells us that in 
1712 the Tuscaroras and other Indians 
from North Carolina, formed, with aU 
the subtlety of the savage character, a 
plot for exterminating the entire white 
population. Having kept their design 
a profound secret until the night fixed 
for its execution, they entered the 
houses of the poor Palatines of Ger- 
many who had settled on the Roanoke 
and murdered men, women and child- 
ren. A few who escaped gave the 
alarm and the remaining inhabitants, 
collecting into camp, kejjt guard night 
and day until aid could he received 
from South Carolina. That colony sent 
to their relief 600 militia and 360 In- 
dians under Barnwell. Although a 
wilderness at this time separated the 
northern from the southern settlements, 
Barnwell penetrated it, boldly at- 
tacked the Indians, killed 300 and took 
100 prisoners. Those who escaped fled 
to the chief town of the Tuscaroras, 
where they erected wooden breastworks 
for their security ; but here Barnwell's 
troops surrounded them and they at 
last sued for peace. The Tuscaroras 
had lost a thousand men in the course 
of this war and they soon after left their 



15. 



country and settled in Central New 
York, uniting with the Iroquois, mak- 
ing the sixth nation of that confederacy. 
During the struggle for American 
independence part of tliis tribe joined 
the British forces and part maintained 
a strict neutrality. Such of the Tus- 
caroras and Oueidas as had allied them- 
selves with the English and fled before 
the arrival of Sullivan's army sought 
refuge within the British garrison at 
Fort Niagara, reacliing there via the 
Oneida Lake, Oswego Lake and Lake 
Ontario. During the early part of the 
following year part of them returned to 
their hunting-grounds in Central New 
York and part of them took possession 
of a mile square on the mountain range, 
which was given to them by the Senecas 
who owned the territory there. At a 
later period the Holland Land Co. 
granted them two square miles adjoin- 
ing their possessions and in 1808 they 
purchased of the company an additional 
tract, making, in the aggregate, 7.620 
acres now in their possession. The 
reservation has the appearance of any 
other agricultural neighborhood. The 
present population is about 460, few, if 
any, looking like the "red man of the 
forest" of whom we use to read in our 
schoolboy days. They have two 
churches— Presbyterian and Baptist, and 
the community is a well behaved one 
with few exceptions. The Indian chil- 
dren now 1 eceive school training, and 
many of them show a marked degree of 
intelligence, and an aptitude for learn- 
ing. There is considerable musical 
talent among these Indians and the Tus- 
caroraBand has played in some of the 
principal cities of our country in con- 
nection with a show of "Indian Beau- 
ties," among whom were some Tuscarora 
maidens. 



16. 



The \^ar of 1812. 



The reasons for the war with Eii.sflaud, 
as stated by Mr. Madison, President of 
the United States, in an able manifesto, 
were: British excesses in violatiuo- the 
American fia<x on the great hig^hway of 
nations; the impressment of American 
seamen ; harrassing American vessels as 
they were entering their own harbors or 
departing from them, and wantonly 
spilling the blood of the citizens of 
America within the limits of her terri- 
torial jurisdiction; issuing orders by 
which the ports of the enemies of Great 
Britain were blockaded, and not sup- 
porting these blockades bj' the adequate 
jipplicatiou of fleets to render them 
legal, and enforcing them from the date 
of their proclamation, inconsequence 
of which American commerce had been 
plundered on every sea, and her pro- 
ducts cut off from their legitimate 
market ; employing secret agents to 
subvert the government and dismember 
the Union ; and linalJy encouraging the 
Indian tri]:)es to hostility. Still the 
American people long cherished the 
hope that a sense of justice would induce 
the British Ministry to bring to a speedy 
and honorable termination the unfor- 
tunate differences subsisting between 
the two nations. They were unwilling 
to resort to the ultimate means of 
redress until all peaceful measures had 
been exhausted, and, indeed, so tardy 
was the government in its preparations 
for war, that the people in many parts 
of the country loudly complained of its 
want of firmness and energy. But 
delay brought no redress. Injury was 
followed by indignity, until the peace- 



17. 



fill policy of the Government at lena^th 
yielded, and on the 18th of June, 1812, 
wjir was formally declared against 
Great IJritain and its dependencies, by 
the Congress of the United States. 



T"be Surrender of ^ull. 



PrcTioiiB to the declaration of war, 
Gen. Hull, in anticipation of that event, 
had been appointed to the command of 
a large and well furnished army, 
intended for the invasion of Canada 
from some point near Detroit. This 
army passed Cincinnati the latter part 
of May, left Dayton on the 1st of June, 
arrived on the Maumee River on the 
30th and crossed the River of Detroit — 
for the invasion of Canada— on the 12th 
of July. The expedition was attended 
with the high hopes of the people, the 
officers and the men. It was opposed 
by no superior force, and when in front 
of the enemy no sound of discontent 
was heard, nor any appearance of 
cowardice or dissatisfaction seen. On 
the contrary every man awaited the 
battle in sure anticipation of victory, ex- 
pecting a proud day for his country and 
himself. Notwithstanding all this pre- 
paration, notwithstanding the superior- 
ity of the force, and notwithstanding 
these vivid anticipations of success and 
glory, the entire army was, without 
apparent cause, surrendered to the de- 
mand of General Brock, on the 14th day 
of August. 

This event, so unexpected and so dis- 
astrous, filled' the American people with 
consternation and mortification. Indig - 



18. 



nation, grief and sliame alternately 
fiUed the hearts of the honest citizen 
and the patriot soldier. It was a veil of 
darkness drawn over the face of the 
country. 

Such was the commencement of the 
war of 1812, unfortunate, disastrous and 
melancholy. It was certainly no en- 
couragement to those who soon after 
commenced the campaign of the Niag- 
ara, where bloody fields, brave actions 
and positive achievements, reanimated 
the hopes of the country, and gave a 
durable glory to the American arms. 



^ n^^^l Engagement. 



In July 1812 Winfield Scott received 
the commission of Lieutenant-CJolonel 
in the 2d artillery, (Izard's regiment), 
and arrived on the Niagara frontier, 
with companies of Towson and Barker. 
He took post at Black Rock to protect 
the navy yard there established. 

Lieutenant Elliott of the navy had 
planned an enterprise against two 
armed brigs, then lying at anchor 
under the guns of Fort Erie. For this 
purpose he applied on the 8th of August, 
1812, to Colonel Scott for assistance in 
officers and men. Captain Towson and 
a portion of his company were dispatch- 
ed to the aid of Elliott. The attack was 
successful. On the morning of the 
ninth, both vessels were carried in the 
most gallant manner. The "Adams" 
was taken by Captain Elliott in person, 
assisted by Lieutenant Isaac Roach: and 
the " Caledonia " by the gallant Captain 
Towson. In dropping down the Niag- 



I 



19. 



ara River the "Adams" became un- 
managable through the occurrence of a 
cahn, and drifted into the British chan- 
nel. She got aground on Squaw Island, 
directly under the guns of the enemy's 
batteries, where it was impossible to 
get her off. Captain Elliott, therefore, 
having previously secured the prisoners, 
abandoned her under a heavy fire from 
the British shore. Then ensued an in- 
teresting and exciting scene, the British 
endeavoring to retake the abandoned 
brig and Scott to prevent them. 
The enemy sent out boats, and Scott 
resisted them, in which effort he was 
successful. The brig was recaptiired 
and held until she was subsequently 
burned by order of General Smythe, 
who had then arrived. 

As for the ' ' Caledonia " she was pres- 
erved by the extraordinary efforts of 
Captain Towson, and afterwards did 
good service in the memorable and 
glorious victory won on Lake Erie, by 
the gallant Perry. 

Although this was not so important an 
engagement as the capture of the Brit- 
ish frigate Guerriere, under command 
of Captain Dacres, by the American 
frigate Constitution, commanded by 
Captain Hull, which took place off the 
Grand Bank of Newfoundland, a few 
days after the disgraceful surrender 
of Detroit, yet this was one of those small 
but honorable enterprises, of which many 
occurred during the war. which should be 
mentioned to the credit of the accors, 
and as an example to those who here- 
after may have similiar duties to per- 
form in defence of their country. 



20. 



^be Rattle of Queenston 
jgeigbts. 



In the beginning of October, 1812, 
Major-General Stephen Van Rensselaer 
had collected together, at Lewiston, 
about two thousand five hundred of the 
New York Militia. The successful en- 
terprise which resulted in the capture 
of the "Adams" and "Caledonia" on the 
9th of that month, had given such an 
apparent ardor and impulse to these 
troops that it was believed impossible to 
restrain them. Indeed, the troops de- 
clared they must act, or go home, an 
alternative which imposed upon the 
General the necessity of some active 
movement. Accordingly, he planned 
an attack on Queenston Heights. The 
troops which he had at his command 
were the New York militia and about 
four hundred and fifty regulars under 
the command of Colonels Fenwick and 
Chrystie, who, with Major Mullaney, 
had arrive the night before in detach- 
ments from Fort Niagara for the pur- 
pose of joining in this expedition. The 
militia were raw, inexperienced, and un- 
disciplined, circumstances which caused 
the brunt of the battle ultimately to 
fall on the regulars, and its final loss. 

The plan was to throw over the river 
two columns of troops, each about three 
hundred strong. One was commanded 
by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, 
and the other by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Chrystie The detachments of Fenwick 
and Mullaney were to sustain, in the 
best way they could, these columns. 
These arrangements were made on the 
12th of October. Late in the evening 



21. 



of that day Col. Scott had arrived by a 
forced march, partly by water and 
partly through mud and rain, at Schlos- 
ser, two miles above the Falls and nine 
from Lewiston, with a view of joining 
in the contemplated attack. He hast- 
ened to Lewiston and volunteered his 
services to General Van Rensselaer. 
They were declined on account of the 
arrangements already made; but 
with permission that Scott should 
bring his regiment immediately to 
Lewiston, and there act as circumstances 
rai^ht require, and opportunities offer. 
This permission he at once availed him- 
self of. and arrived at Lewiston with 
his corps at four o'clock a. m. on the 
13th. Finding no boats he placed his 
train in battery on the American shore 
under the immediate command of 
Captains Towson and Barker, and when 
daylight appeared opened au effective 
fire on the enemy. 

In the meantime the principal move- 
ment, as originally planned, had gone 
on. All the boats which could be col- 
lected were employed to transport the 
columns of Chrystie and Van Rensse- 
laer. Unfortunately the boats were 
insufficient to take the whole number at 
once, and the passage was made by de- 
tachments. The boat in which Chrystie 
was became disabled, was mismanaged 
by the pilot, and finally carried out of 
the way by the eddies of the river. He 
made a gallant attempt to land but was 
wounded and had to return to the 
American shore. In the after part of 
the engagement he returned with re- 
inforcements to the troops in Canada 
and shared the fate of the day. 

The main body of the first embark- 
ation, under the direction of Colonel 
Van Rensselaer, was more successful. 



22. 



Two companies of the 13th Regiment, 
■with other small detachments of the 
same regiment, were able to land, and 
were successively reinforced from time 
to time as the few servicible boats to be 
had could transport them. They were 
landed under a severe fire of the enemy. 
At this time the numbers of both con- 
tending parties were small. The 
British force was composed of two 
flank companies of the 4t9th and the 
York militia. The Americans did not 
number much over one hundred com- 
batants. Notwithstanding the contin- 
ued cannonade from the enemies bat- 
teries this small force formed on the 
bank and marched steadily forward. 

In a few moments this fire had killed 
or wounded every commissioned officer, 
and among these Colonel Van Eeussel- 
aer himself, who received four severe 
wounds. Notwithstanding this, he sus- 
tained himself long enough to impart 
the local information he possessed to 
other officers, who had in the meantime 
come up. In leaving the field his last 
command was that "all such as could 
move should immediately mount the 
hill and storm the batteries." This or- 
der was promptly obeyed by Captain 
Wool, on whom, as then senior officer 
of the regular troops, the command de- 
volved, and he was also bleeding from 
his wounds, but distinguished himself 
with Captains Ogilvie, Malcolm and 
Armstrong and Lieutenant Randolph. 
These brave officers stormed the heights, 
took a battery, composed of an eighteen- 
pounder and two mortars half way up 
the declivity, and were soon in possess- 
ion of the highest point, called the 
'mountain." By this time the enemy 
were beaten, routed, and driven into a 
strong stone building near the water's 
edgre. 



23. 



Elated with their success, the Ameri- 
cans had fallen into disorder, when 
they again beheld 300 of their foe, ad- 
vancing- under the intrepid Brock, the 
lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, 
who had just returned from the capture 
of Hull to defend the Niagara frontier. 
An officer raised a white flag in token 
to surrender; Wool indignantly xmlled 
it down. The British now drove the 
Americans to the edge of the incline. 
One soldier was about to descend; Wool 
ordered him to be shot; but. as the 
musket was leveled, he returned. Thus 
prohibiting either surrender or retreat, 
and being ably seconded by his officers, 
he rallied and led on his troops to the 
attack. The British in their turn gave 
way, and retreated down the hill. 
Brock, while attempting to rally them 
in the midst of a galling fire, was mor- 
tally wounded. His party no longer 
attempted resistance, but fled in disor- 
der. 

Exactly at this period Lieutenant- 
colonel Scott arrived on the heights 
He had been permitted, as a volunteer, 
to cross the river with his adjutant. 
Roach, and assume the command of the 
whole body engaged. On the Canada 
side he unexpectedly found Brigadier- 
General William Wadsworth of the 
New York militia, who had crossed with- 
out orders Scott therefore proposed 
to limit his command to the reguhxrs, 
but the generous and patriotic Wads- 
worth would not consent. Scott then 
assumed command, and throughout the 
movements that ensued General Wads- 
worth dared every danger in aiding the 
views of the comma,nder. Beinforce- 
ments having arrived during the previ- 
ous engagements, the troops under 
Scott now amounted in all to three hun- 



24. 



(Irecl and fifty regulars, and two hun- 
dred and fifty volunteers, under the di- 
rection of General Wadswortli and Col- 
onel Stranahan. These Scott, upon the 
suggestion of Oai)tain Tatton, drew up 
in a strong and commanding situation. 
The object in view was not only to re- 
ceive the enemy, but to cover the ferry 
in expectation of being reinforced by 
the whole of the militia at Lewiston. 

The interval of rest was short. The 
first gun which broke the silence of the 
morning had also aroused the British 
garrison of Fort Cxeorge eight miles be- 
low. Their troops were instantly put in 
motion. The Indians, who had been 
concentrated in the vicinity, sprang in- 
to activity. In a short time five hun- 
dred of these forest warriors joined the 
British light companies previously en- 
gaged. A new battle ensued. The 
Americans received the enemy with 
firmness and drove them back in total 
route. 

Tlie protection of the ferry being the 
main purpose, and as the Indians in the 
wood presented no opportunity for a 
charge, the Americans resumed their 
original position, and there maintained 
it valiantly against several successive at- 
tacks, until the British reinforcements 
arrived from Fort George. In one of 
these affairs the advanced pickets of the 
American lines were suddenly driven in 
by superior numbers, and a general 
massacre seemed inevitable. At this 
critical moment Scott, who had been in 
the rear showing how to unspike a cap- 
tured cannon, hastily returned and by 
great exertions brought his line, then 
in the act of giving away, to the right- 
about. His brilliant example produced 
a sudden revulsion of feeling. They 
caught the spirit of their leader. With 



25. 



an unanimous burst of enthusiasm the 
line suddenlj' rallied from rio^ht to left, 
threw itself forward upon the enemy, 
puttiut? him to a precipitate flight, and 
strewing the ground with the dead and 
wounded. In this manner successive 
c< mfiicts were kept up till the main body 
of the British reinforcements arrived. 
This was a column eight hundred and 
fifty strong under the command of 
Major-Greneral Sheaflt'e, who was after- 
wards made a baronet for the events of 
the day. 

During the action, which had now so 
long proceeded with credit to the 
American troops, the Militia who had 
crossed the river and were engaged 
with Wadsworth and Stranahan, had 
fought well, and shared both the dan- 
gers and the successes of the day. At 
this crisis, however, when the result of 
the battle depended entirely upon re- 
inforcements, information was brought 
to Scott and those engaged that the 
Militia on the American shore refused to 
cross. General Van Rensselaer rode 
among them in all directions, urging 
the men by every consideration to pass, 
but in vain. Not a regiment nor a 
company could be induced to 
move. A panic had seized them; but 
even had it been otherwise they could 
not have crossed, as but a few crippled 
boats remained to take them over. The 
total number of boats in the beginning 
was only thirteen. Severe was the 
mortification of this disaster to the brave 
men engaged, and mournful the result. 

At this period the British was estim- 
ated, regulars, militia and Indians, at 
not less than thirteen hundred, while 
the Americans were reduced to less than 
three hundred. Retreat was as hope- 
less as success; for there were no boats 



26. 



on the Canadian shore, and the militia 
on the other side refused to give them 
aid. Scott took his position on the 
grounds they then occupied, resolved to 
abide the shock, and think of surrender 
only when battle was impossible. He 
mounted a log in front of his much- 
diminished band. *' The enemy's balls,'" 
said he, "begin to thin our ranks. His 
numbers are overwhelming. In a mom- 
ent the shock must come. We are in 
the beginning of a national war. Hull's 
surrender is to be redeemed. Let us 
then die arms in hand. Our country 
demands the sacrifice. The example 
will not be lost. The blood of the shxin 
will make heroes of the living. Those 
who follow will avenge our fall and their 
country's wrongs. Who dare to stand ? '* 
"All! " was the answering cry. In the 
meanwhile the British, under the com- 
mand of Major-General Sheaffe, man- 
oeuvred with great caution, and even 
hesitation, conscious of the vigorous 
resistance already made, and determined 
fully to reconuoiter. They found it 
difficult to believe that so small a body 
of men was the whole force they had to 
contend with, and supposed it rather an 
outpost than an army. At length the 
attack began. The Americans for a 
time maintained their resolution, but 
finally began to give way. When nearly 
surrounded they let themselves (by 
holding on limbs and bushes) down the 
precipice to the river. Resistance was 
now ended and after a brief consultation 
it was determined to send a flag 
to the enemy, with a proposition to 
capitulate. Several persons were suc- 
cessively sent, but neither answer nor 
messenger returned; they were all shot 
down or captured by the Indians. At 
length Scott determined that he him- 



27. 



self would make another attempt. He 
prepared a fiao- of trace— a white hand- 
kerchief fastened upou his sword -and 
accompanied by Captains Totton and 
Gibson went forth on a forlorn hope to 
seek a parley. Keeping close to the 
water's edge and under cover of the 
precipice as much as possible, they des- 
cended along the river. They were ex- 
posed to a continual random tire from 
the Indians, until they turned up an 
easy slope to gain the road from the 
village to the heights. They had just 
attained this road when they were met 
by two Indians, who sprang ui>on them. 
It was in vain that Scott declared his 
purpose and claimed the protection of 
his tiag. They attempted to wrench it 
from his hands, and at the same instant 
Totton and Gibson drew their swords. 
The Indians had just discharged their 
rifles at the American ofiicers and were 
on the point of using their knives and 
hatchets, when a British officer, accom- 
panied by some men, rushed forward 
and prevented a further combat. 

The three American officers were 
conducted into the presence of General 
Sheaife; terms of capitulation were 
agreed upon; and Scott surrendered his 
whole force with the honors of war. 
The entire force thus surrendered, of 
those who had been actually fighting, 
were 139 regulars and 154 militia, mak- 
ing in all 293. But to the intense mor- 
tification of Scott, the number was soon 
swelled by several hundreds of militia, 
who had crossed to the Canada shore, 
and in the confusion of the moment, 
had concealed themselves under the 
rocks higher up the river, and were not 
in the slightest degree engaged in the 
action of the day. 



28. 



The total loss of the Americans in this 
battle was estimated at 1000 men. About 
100 were killed, 200 who had landed 
with Major Mullaney early in the day 
were forced by the current of the 
river on the enemy's shores under his 
batteries and were there captured. 293 
surrendered with Scott, and the re- 
mainder were those who had landed, but 
were not in the battle . 

Thus ended the battle of Queenston 
Heights; an engagement desultory in 
its movements, various in its incidents, 
and unfortunate in its result; but not 
with out consequent importance to the 
spirit and vigor of the American arms. 
Magnitude is not always necessary to 
the dignity of an achievement, nor is 
defeat always discouraging to the un- 
successful party. It is the nature of the 
action which gives character to the 
actor. Judged by this standard, the 
events of Queenston had their value, 
and their inspiration to every patriot 
American. Hull had surrendered with- 
out a battle; disgrace, not from the 
mere disaster, but from the mode by 
which it was produced was inflicted 
upon the country, and felt in the hearts 
of its children. It was battle, and hon- 
orable battle only, which could drive 
this gloomy shadow from the country, 
check the taunts of the enemies, remove 
its own doubts, and re-establsh its self 
respect. The battle of Queenston 
Heights did this in no small degree. 
While the mistakes, the errors, and the 
losses of the day were deplored, the 
American press and people recognized, 
amid regrets and misfortune, a spirit of 
achievement, a boldness in danger, and 
a gallant bearing, which inspired new 
hopes, and pointed out the way to 
ultimate success. The daring gallantry 



•29. 



of Colonel Van Kensselaer; the capture 
of the British battery by Wool and his 
heroic companions; the intrepid con- 
duct of "Wadsworth, of Chrystie, of 
Totton, and Scott, and many others, 
had given a cheerfulness even to the 
•darkness of defeat, and almost a glow of 
satisfaction to the memory of Queen- 
«ton Heights. 

Soon after the surrender, the gallant 
Brock was buried under one of the 
bastons of Fort St. George, with the 
highest of military honors. Fort 
Niagara, directly opposite on the Amer- 
ican shore was commanded at that time 
by Captain McKeon. Colonel Scott 
«eut over his compliments, and desired 
that minute-guns might be fired during 
the funeral ceremonies. Captain Mc- 
Keon readily complied with the request, 
for the noble qualities of Brock had 
been held in equal esteem on both sides 
of the line It is one of the privileges 
which smooth the rough brow of war, 
thus to render a just respect to the 
worth3^ dead, whether they be of friends 
or adversaries. It is the right of mag- 
nanimity to carry no hostility beneath 
the green covering of the grave, nor 
beyond that line which peace has drawn 
between noble spirits, that once were 
foes, nor against those generous qualities 
which dignify the man and adore the 
races. 

In later years the monument was 
-erected in honor of General Brock 
which now towers from the top of the 
Queenston Heights. From this eminent 
point it can be seen for miles around. 
The exact spot where Brock fell, near 
the foot of the hill, has also been ap- 
propriately marked, and the place en- 
closed with a small fence. 



30. 

Gciptupe of ^ort Qeorge. 



The campaign of 1813 opened with 
one of the most brilliant actions of the 
war. It was the capture of York, (now 
Toronto) the capital of Upper Canada, 
by the American troops under the com- 
mand of General Dearborn. The army 
was landed from the squadron of Com- 
modore Chauncey. and the assistin<4- 
party was led by Pike. The place was 
captured, with a large number of 
prisoners, and the British naval mater- 
ial, there collected, destroyed. At the 
moment of success a magazine exploded 
and Pike was killed by the fall of a 
stone. In a letter written to his father 
the day before the battle, in speaking of 
his expedition he was about to engage 
in, he said: ''Should I be the happy 
mortal destined to turn the scale of 
war, will you not rejoice, oh my father ? 
May heaven be propitious, and smile on 
the cause of my country. But if we are 
destined to fall, may my fall be like 
Wolf's— to sleep in the arms of victory." 
The wish was fulfilled. He died like 
Wolf, in the arms of victory, and the 
tears of grief and joy were mingled to- 
gether at the story of the battle which 
was won, and of the hero who died. 

On the British side of the Niagara 
was Fort George. This position, soon 
after the last event, General Dearborn 
determined to carry. He was then at the 
head of four or five thousand men. and 
was co-operated with by Commodore 
Chauncey and his naval force. Arrange- 
ments were made for an attack on the 
morning of the 27th of May. At 3 a. m. 
the fleet weighed anchor, and before 
four the troops were all on board the 



31. 



boats. The embarkation was made 
about three miles east of Fort Niagara. 
It was made in six divisions of boats. 
In the first was Colonel Scott, who led 
the advanced guard, or forlorn hope, a 
service to which he had specially volun- 
teered. In the second was Colonel 
Moses Porter with the field train. Then 
followed the brigades of Generals Boyd, 
Winder, Chandler, and a reserve under 
Colonel A. Macomb. In the meantime 
Commodore Chauncey had directed his 
schooners to anchor close in shore, so 
near as to cover the lauding of the 
troops, and scour by their fire the woods 
and plain wherever the enemy might 
make his appearance. Captain Perry, 
from Erie, had joined Commodore 
Chauncey on the evening of the 25th, 
and gallantly volunteered his services 
in superintending the debarkation of 
the troops. It was a difficult operation, 
in consequence of the wind, the current, 
a heavy surf, and the early commenced 
fire of the enemy. He was present 
wherever he could be useful, under 
showers of musketry. He accompanied 
the advanced guard through the surf, 
and rendered special services of which 
mention has since been made in the 
highest terms of commendation. It was 
the budding forth of that professional 
skill, and that brave and generous con- 
duct, which soon bloomed out in the 
glory which surrounds the name of the 
hero of Lake Erie. The landing of 
Col. Scott was effected on the 
British shore of Lake Ontario, at nine 
o'clock in the morning, in good order, 
at half a mile from the village of Newark, 
now Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the same 
distance west of the mouth of the river. 
He formed his line on the beach, cover- 
ed by an irregular bank, which served 



32. 



as a partial shield against the enemy's 
fire. This bank, which was from seven 
to twelve feet in height, he had to scale 
against the bayonets of the enemy, 
who had drawn up his forces, some 
fifteen hundred men, immediately on its 
brow. In the first attempt to ascend, 
the enemy pushed back the assailants. 
General Dearborn, who was still in the 
Commodore's ship, seeing with his glass 
Hcott fall backward upon the beach ex- 
claimed, " He is lost ! He is killed ! " 
Scott's fall was, however, only momen- 
tary. Recovering himself and rallying 
his men, he reascended the bank, knock- 
ing aside the enemy's bayonets, and 
took a position at the edge of a raviMe, 
a little way in advance. A sharp action 
of about twenty minutes in length en- 
sued. It was short and desperate, end- 
ing in the total rout of the enemy at 
every point. 

Meanwhile Porter with his artillery, 
and Boyd with a part of his brigade, had 
landed in the rear of the advance guard, 
and slightly participated in the close of 
the action. Scott pursued the rout as 
far as the village, where he was joined 
by the 6th regiment of infantry, under 
the command of Colonel James Miller. 
As the column was passing Fort Niagara 
in pursuit, Scott learned from some 
prisoners caught running out. that the 
garrison was about to abandon and 
blow up the place. Two companies 
were instantly dispatched from the 
head of the column to save the work, 
its guns and stores. At the distance of 
some eighty paces from the fort, one of 
its magazines exploded. Scott was 
struck with a piece of timber, thrown 
from his horse and severely hurt. He 
nevertheless caused the gate to be for- 
ced, and was the first to enter, and tore 



S3. 



down the British flag, then waving 
over the works Being reminded by 
Lis prisoners of the danger he incurred 
from explosion, he directed Captains 
Hindman and Stockton to snatch away 
the matches which had been applied by 
the retreating garrison to two other 
small magazines. The Fort had been 
rendered untenable by the American 
batteries on the opposite shore, and its 
capture was but the work of a few min- 
utes. This accomplished Scott re- 
mounted and was soon at the head of 
his column, in hot pursuit. This pur- 
suit was continued for five miles, until 
at length he was recalled by General 
Boyd in person He had already dis- 
regarded two successive orders to the 
same effect sent by General Lewis, say- 
ing to the aids-de-camp who came to him 
(one of them Lieutenant Worth and the 
other Major Vandeventer) "Your 
General does not know that I have the 
enemy within my power ; in seventy 
minutes I shall capture his whole force. 
In point of fact, Scott was already in 
the midst of the British stragglers, with 
their main body in sight. He would 
not have been overtaken by Boyd, but 
that he had waited fifteen minutes for 
Colonel Burns, his senior officer, who 
had consented to serve under him. This 
last Colonel had just crossed the river 
from the Five-Mile Meadow, in rear of 
the main body of the enemy, with one 
troop of cavalry and was then waiting 
the landing of another now more than 
half way over. This force constituted 
the precise additional force which was 
wanted by Scott to make good the as- 
surance he had sent to General Lewis. 
With the recall of Scott from the pur- 
suit of the enemy ended the battle and 
capture of Fort George. The American 



34. 



Joss was less than tliat of the Britisfe^ 
and one of the objects set foi-th in the 
plan of the campaign -was clecidedly ac- 
complished. 

AccordiJi^ to Genera] Dearborn's 
letter to the Secretary of War. the 
American loss was 17 killed and 45 
wounded; British loss, 90 killed, 160 
wounded and 100 prisoners. 

This engagement was not without 
some incidents, one of which may not 
be out of place to relate. After the 
capture of Scott, the year before, at 
Queenston, he was supping with Gen- 
eral Sheaffe, and a number of British 
ofKcers, when one of them, a Colonel, 
asked him if he had ever seen the neigh- 
boring Falls. Scott replied, "Yes, from 
the American side." To this the other 
sarcastically replied, "Yon must have 
the glory of a successful light before 
you can view the cataract in all its 
grandeur," meaning from the Canadian 
shore. Scott rejoined, "If it be your 
intention to insult me, sir, honor should 
have prompted you first to return me 
my sword! " General Sheaffe promptly 
rebuked the British Colonel, and the 
matter was dropped. At the battle of 
Fort George among the earliest prison- 
ers taken by the Americans was the 
same British Colonel, badly wounded, 
Scott politely borrowed the prisoner's 
horse, not being able to bring his own 
in the boats, and gave orders that the 
prisoner should be treated with all 
jHDSsible attention and kindness. That 
evening, after the pursuit, and as often 
as subsequent events permitted, Scott 
called on the British Colonel. He re- 
turned him the horse, and carefully 
provided for all his wants. Indeed, he 
obtained permission for him to return 
to England on his parole, at a time 



35. 



when the belligerents had begun to re- 
fuse such favors, as well as all exchan- 
ges. At the first of these visits the 
prisoner delicately remarked, " I have 
long owed you an apology, sir. You 
have overwhelmed me with kindness. 
You can now at your leisure, view the 
Falls in all their glory." 

It is such acts of magnanimity as 
these which reflect honor on human 
nature. Were they more frequent, the 
rough brow of war would be smoothed 
to smiles, and the field of battle be as 
remarkable for the beautiful in character 
as for the glorious in action. 



Battle of Stony G**ee^. 



To the successful actions of York, 
Fort George, and of Sackett's Harbor, 
there were soon added others of a less 
fortunate result, and of a less pleasant 
hue. On the 6th of June a small brigade 
of about 800 American troops under the 
command of General Winder, had been 
thrown forward to Stony Creek, and 
there reinforced by another corps under 
Chandler. Their object was the pursuit 
and capture of the British corps who 
had retreated from Fort George, under 
the command of Vincent. This officer 
thought it better to risk a battle than to 
give up his position. He prepared also 
to make the attack. Accordingly on 
the morning of the 6th, by night, a 
British column was pushed into the 
centre of the American line, which 
Vincent had discovered to be weakened 
by extension, and liable to surprise, by 



36. 



the negligence of camp guards. Tlie 
attack succeeded so far as to break the 
American line, and by a strange mis- 
fortune both of the American generals, 
Winder and Chandler, fell into the 
hands of the British. When the attack 
was a made a scene of confusion and 
carnage ensued, in which the Americans 
could not distinguish friend from foe. 
General Chandler ai)proached to rally a 
party but they proved to be British 
troops, who immediately secured him 
as their })risoner. General Winder 
shared bj^ a like mistake a simiiiar fate. 
The Americans, however, maintained 
their post, and forced the enemy to re- 
retire, but the army, being without an 
experienced commander, retreated by 
the advice of a council of war. The 
loss of the British exceeded that of the 
Americans, and was more than one 
hundred. 

A few days after the battle of Stony 
Creek, another incident still more dis- 
astrous occurred On the 24th of June 
Boerstler had been detached, with a 
corps of 600 men, to take the British 
post called Stone House, two miles 
beyond the Beaver Dams, and 17 miles 
from Fort George. The British force 
was larger than was supposed. Boerst- 
ler was suffered to advance without an- 
noyance, till at length he was surround- 
ed and compelled to surrender. 

The principal reason given for the 
success of the British on this occasion 
is found in the following narrative, as 
related by Mrs. J. J. Currie of St. 
Catharines, and revised by J. B. Secord 
of Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

Looking from the right hand side ^ of 
the Niagara Central train about five 
miles above St. Catharines, the passen- 
ger will observe a small obelisk. This 



37. 



stone was erected to mark the spot 
where ou the 2 tth of June, 1813, took 
place what is now known as the Battle 
of the Beaver Dams. At this time the 
Americans were in full possession of 
Niagara and the frontier as far as 
Queenston with an outpost at St. Davids 
and strong pickets out at all available 
points. The British Army at Niagara 
under General Vincent after their de- 
feat by the Americans under Gen. Dear- 
born had retreated to Burlington 
Heights and there established themsel- 
ves with outposts at Jordon, under Col. 
Bishop and at a point near Homer un- 
der Major DeHaren. A small party 
consisting of about 50 men of the 4:9th 
Regt. under Lieut. Fitzgibbon and 
about 100 Indians under Capt. Duch- 
arme were also stationed at the Beaver 
Dams. Such was the situation of 
affairs where our story commences. 
That story is the record of a brave 
woman whose deed of daring and 
through whose information the British 
Commander was enabled to achieve a 
signal victory and to be the means 
under Divine Providence of saving 
Upper Canada to the British Crown. 
Lieut. Fitzgibbon and his detachment 
had been most active in annoying the 
enemy, and to get rid of him and at the 
same time obtain an advantageous base 
of operations against Gen. Vincent's 
position on Burlington Heights, it was 
resolved by the American Commander 
to capture the Lieut, and the British 
position at the Beaver Dams. This 
course was adopted at a Council of War 
held at Fort George on the 18th of June, 
1813. To carry out this determination 
the American General selected a force 
of about 650 men composed of about 400 
light Infantry, two companies of mount- 



38. 



ed Infantry, a companj^ of Artillery 
with two field pieces, and a half troop 
of Cavalry and placed them under the 
command of Col. Boerstler, an officer 
noted for his bravery and distinguished 
for gallantry during the Indian wars. 



heroine j^aura gecord, 



As I before stated, the village of Queen - 
ston was in possession of the Americans 
and but few of the older inhabitants re- 
mained there. Among the few was the 
heroine of this story, LauraSecord, and 
her husband. Mr. Secord was still suf- 
fering and helpless from the wound he 
received at the Battle of Queenston. 
At their house the American officers 
were billeted and among them was Col. 
Boerstler. On June 23rd while these 
officers were at dinner the Colonel talk- 
ed freely of his intended enterprise — 
told of his plans to capture Fitzgibbou 
and his small party at the Beaver Dams. 
How a base of operations would then 
be had for the advance on the position 
held by the British at Burlington. 
"That position once captured -shouted 
the gallant Colonel, and Upper Canada 
is ours." Laura Secord li.stened to all 
this, and when tne officers retired from 
the house to perform their several duties 
and Col. Boerstler had gone in the di- 
rection of Niagara to join his 
command for the capture of Fitzgibbon, 
she consulted with her husband as to 
the best course to pursue— some one 
must go to warn Fitzgibbon, she said — 
Mr. Secord could not go, and there was 



39. 



no other to send and she resolved to go 
herself. She did not for a moment 
hesitate. Her courage rose to meet the 
emergency. Bidding her husband and 
children a hurried farewell, she, in the 
early evening of the 23rd, left her home 
for a long and perilous walk to the 
Beaver Dams. 

With a sunbonnet on her head aud a 
milk pail in her hand she passed the 
first sentinel and was not challeuged. 
She sped onward and when about two 
miles from her home she was challeng- 
ed by another sentinel who roughly de- 
manded to know where she was going. 
Her story was that she was going to 
visit a sick brother and with real tears 
besought the guard not to detain her — 
after some questioning she was allowed 
to go on her way. Through the woods 
she sped along, meeting many adven- 
tures by the way until at last she reach- 
ed the position where was encamped a 
group of Indians who at once made her a 
prisoner. She asked to be taken to their 
chief. They complied with her request 
and she at once made herself known and 
demanded to be led to Lieut. Fitzgib- 
bon for whom she said she had great 
news. After some hesitation she was 
taken to Fitzgibbon's quarters and at 
once told her story. He realized its 
importance. "Mrs. Secord." he said, 
•'you have save me and you have saved 
Vincent, God bless you." After seeing 
Mrs. Secord comfortably housed for the 
night the Lieutenant took his measures 
to give the enemy a warm reception. 
Posting his little army in advantageous 
position and out of sight of an advanc- 
ing enemy and directing Gen. Ducharme 
to post his Indians, in a ravine in the 
Beech woods which w^as selected as a good 
place for an ambuscade, the little band 



40. 



waited for the enemy to appear. About 
9 o'clock the Americans appeared and 
were received by a steady and incessant 
fire from the woods on every side. 
Boerstler ordered the artillery to open 
fire on the woods, but this was ineliec- 
tual and the repeated attempts to march 
forward were repulsed, Boerstler sev- 
eral times changed direction, meeting 
each time an invisible enem\\ Believ- 
ing himself to be surrounded by a large 
force of the British and seeing no 
other alternative he at last sent up a 
flag of truce with an offer of surrender, 
which offer was accepted, and articles 
of capitulation signed. By this surren- 
der Col. Boerstler, twenty-three 
officers and five hundred and seventy-five 
men became prisoners of war. Besides 
were surrendered the colors of the 14th 
U. S. Infantry, two cannons, two bag- 
gage wagons and about 600 stand of 
arms as substantial tokens of victory. 
Laura Secord remained at DeCew's 
house until the 25th when Lieut. Fitz- 
gibbon had her conveyed home. Her 
return was a happy one as her purpose 
had been achieved and the results be- 
yond the most sanguine expectations. 
I cannot close this brief narrative with- 
out recalling an incident of the Battle of 
Queenston. Mrs. Secord and family 
were living there at that time and Mr. 
Secord was one of the part}'' that con- 
vej'ed the remains of the dead Brock 
from the place where he fell to the stone 
house where he lay until taken to Fort 
George in the afternoon. Mr. 
Secord returned to take his share of 
the battle and while following gallant 
McDonnell up the heights receiv- 
ed a severe wound on the shoulder. 
Intelligence of this occurrence reached 
Mrs. Secord and she at once hurried to 



41. 



his side. Just as she arrived three 
American st)ldiers arrived and raising 
their muskets were about to chib him to 
death. Eushing between them she threw 
herself on the body of her hnsband, 
thus shielding him and implored the 
ruffians to spare her husband's life. 
With rough words they pushed her aside 
and were about to accomplish their 
murderous intent, when Capt. Wool of 
the American army came up, and call- 
ing them cowards sternly demanded 
how they dared do such a thing. He 
liad them arrested and sent to Lewiston 
where they were afterwards court-mar- 
tialed and as a result received well 
merited imprisonment for several 
months for their infamous breach of 
discipline. Captain Wool ordered a 
party of men to take Mr. Secord to his 
home, and did not even make him a 
prisoner on parole. Captain Wool 
never forgot the friend he made that 
day. He rose to the high rank of 
Major General and visited Mr. Secord 
several times, and their friendship con- 
tinued until Mr. Record's death. This 
same Captain Wool stationed a guard at 
the stone house where the dead body of 
Brock was conveyed, to protect it from 
in j ury and insult. It is pleasant amid 
the horrors and cruelties of war to 
record the noble actions of a generous 
foe. Mr. Secord and family lived at 
-Queenston for many years, when re- 
lieving a government appointment, he 
removed to Chippawa where he died in 
1842. Laura Secord still continued to 
reside at Chippawa and died in 1868 in 
the 95th year of her age. In 1860 she 
was presented to H. K. H.. the Prince 
of Wales, and her brave exploit brought 
to his notice. He afterwards generous- 
ly sent her his check for £100, but no 



42. 



acknowledgement of her services was 
made by the government. She left six 
children, five daughters and one son, 
none of whom are now living. Her 
only son purchased the stone house 
hallowed by the presence of the dead 
warrior and lived there until he remov- 
to Niagara, Laura Secord and her 
husVmnd are buried in the old cemeterj^ 
on Drummond Hill. A simple stone 
marks the spot where this true hearted 
couple sleeps. This burying ground 
was the battle field of Lundy's Lane 
and many of the dead that fell in that 
fierce conflict mingle their dust with 
theirs. 



^ (general G<^"^P<^i^". 



During this time, and for more than 
three months, the main body remained 
for the most part inactive, and entrench- 
ed at Fort George, under the command 
successively oi' Generals Pearborn, 
Lewis, Boyd and Wilkinson. The dnty 
of foraging devolved upon Colonel 
Scott, which he did at least twice u 
week. In these excursions repeated 
skirmishes with snuxll parties of the 
enemy occurred. Not a load of forage 
was cut between the hostile camps with- 
out a sharp combat, in which Scott 
always came off victorious. 

In September an expedition was plan- 
ned against Burlington Heights, at the 
head of Lake Ontario, reported to be 
the depot of a large quantity of ]n-ovis- 
ions and other British stores. In this 
exr)edition Col. Scott volunteered to 
command the land troops, and was taken 



43. 



on board the fleet by Commodore 
Chauucey. Burlington Heights were 
visited, but neither enemy nor 
stores were found there. On tlie return 
it was determined to make a descent 
upon York (now Toronto). According- 
ly a landing of the soldiers and murines 
was affected, under the command of 
Col. Scott. The barracks and public 
storehouses were burnt. Large depots 
of provisions and clothing were taken, 
together with eleven armed boats, and 
a considerable quantity of ammunition 
and several pieces of cannon. 

At the close of this summer a plan of 
campaign was devised, having for its 
object Kingston, and then Montreal- 
Without going into the details of the 
objects of this plan and the movements 
of the different armies, we will simply 
say, that in accordance with the plan, 
Wilkiuson embarked with the Niagara 
army on the 2nd day of October, leav- 
ing Colonel Scott commander of Fort 
George with between seven and eight 
hundred regulars, with a part of Col. 
Swift's regiment of militia, to defend 
the Fort. And as this fort had been 
taken by Col. Scott and the British 
colors taken down by his own hands, he 
was proud of the capture, and determin- 
ed to defend it as the post of honor. He 
lost not a moment nor an effort to im- 
prove the defences of the fort. Expect- 
ing an assault at any moment, all hands, 
including the commander, worked night 
and day. A week accomplished much, 
at the end of which, (Oct. 9th), the 
enemy, contrary to all expectations, 
broke up his camp, burning three 
thousand blankets, many hundred stand 
of arms, also the blankets in the men's 
packs, and ever article of clothing not in 
actual use and then followed Wilkinson 



44. 



down the country. On the 13th of 
October, 1813, by order of Major-Gen- 
eral Wilkinson, Col. Scott left Fort 
George, with the whole of the regular 
troops of the garrison, being relieved- 
by Brigadier-General McOlure, with a 
body of the New York detached militia, 
expecting to embark at the mouth of 
Genesee River, where Wilkinson was to 
provide means for his emV)arkation, but 
failed to do so, so that he had to march 
to Sackett's Harbor, through rain and 
mud. 

On the 12th of November the expedi- 
tion down the St. Lawrence for the 
conquest of Canada was abandoned, and 
the army commenced a retreat. Sir, 
George Provost being relieved from his 
apprehension of an attack on Montreal, 
ordered his forces under Generals Vin- 
cent and Drummoud, to proceed to 
Niagara. The Americans had left this 
frontier defen.seless. except about 60 
men of the New York Militia who were 
left to garrison Fort George. Being 
hard i)ressed by the enemy, McClure 
concluded to abandon the post. So on 
the lUth of December he left for Fort 
Niagara, after, through a misconception 
of his orders, he burned the village of 
Newark, and the people, who were non- 
combatants, were turned out into a deep 
snow, in intensely cold weather. The 
British officers resolved to retaliate, 
although the act was promptly disavow- 
ed by the American Government. 



45. 

British Gi-ossmegordep. 



On the ui-lit of December 18th 1,000 

./'- F.v'Tr/^ilV^'"? ^•^•«^«ed the river 
!it Five Mile Meadow," slu,otiu- and 



Pluuderino- the inhabitkiits and fayin^ 

Col. Mnrra.>% with 550 recrulars, turned 
toward the Fort of Niagara, prepared 
to storm It. The pickets were captured 
without givmo: any alarm, and the 
enemy on reaching the fort about three 
o clock in the morning actually found 
the mam gate standing open and un 
defended and the fortress at their 
mercy. For a few minutes the ''south- 
eastern blockhouse" and the "red bar 
racks" withstood the entrance of the 
foe so stoutly that several were killed or 
v^^ounded, among the latter was OoT 
Mum,y^ Most of the 450 occupants of 
the Fort only awoke to find themsel- 
ves prisoners The slight resisSnce 
was made the pretext for'^ an inhuman 
onslaught m which 80 of the helXss 
garrison, including many hosS 
patients, were slaughtered^ after C 
rendering. Fourteen were wounded, 
taken prisoner, 20 escaped- 27 cani 
non 3000 stand of small arms, and gi-eat 
quantities of ammunition, provisions 
and camp equipage fell into the hands 
of the victors. They held the fort unSl 
the treaty of peace restored it 

rhe portion of the British forces 
which did not accompany Col. Murray 
to the fort, including the Indians, pif 
h^.f ^T^ destroyed the six or eight 
houses then constituting Youngstown 
T^ey then marched upon Lewiston" 
where they plundered, burned and but! 
cheredto their hearts content Mr 



46. 



Lossin^ UDclerstood that 500 Indiiiiis 
iiuder General Riall crossed from 
QiieeDston to Lewiston on bearin<? a 
cannon lired at Fort Niagara anuonn- 
cir.g its capture. He quotes the follow- 
ing extract of a letter from an officer of 
high rank, (whom he conjectures to 
have been General Drummoud) at 
Queenston. written while the devasta- 
tion was going on : 

"A war-hoop from five hundred of 
the most savage Indians (which they 
gave just at daj'light, on hearinsr of the 
success of the attack on Fort Niagara) 
made the enemy (at Lewiston) take to 
their heels, and our troops are in pur- 
suit. We shall not stop until we have 
cleared the whole frontier. The Indians 
are retaliating the conflagration of 
Newark. Not a house within my sight 
but is in flames. This is a melancholy 
but just retaliation." 

Mr. Lossing, who quotes this letter, 
remarks: "Fearful was the retaliation 
for the destruction of half-inhabited 
Newark, where not a life was sacrificed ! 
Six villages, many isolated country 
houses and four vessels were consumed, 
and the butchery of innocent persons at 
Fort Niagara, Lewiston, Schlosser, 
Tuscarora Village, Black Rock and 
Buffalo, and in farm houses, attested 
the fierceness of the enemy's revenge." 

But it is impossible to give the reader 
such an account of the condition of 
things on the Niagara frontier, during 
that ill-fated winter as will enable him 
to realize the alarm, the panic, and the 
calamities that prevailed on every hand, 
and of the sufferings that were endured 
by the pioneers on the border. 



47. 

Perri/ on C^H® G'*^^:, 



On September 10th of this year, 1813, 
an exciting battle took place on one of 
those inland seas which separate the 
possessions of the two governments. 
The American fleet on Lake Erie, which 
had l)een formed during the past sum- 
mer, was under the command of Com- 
modore Oliver Hazard Perry. It now 
consisted of the Niagara and Lawrence, 
each mounting twenty-five guns, and 
several smaller vessels, carrying on an 
average of two guns each. The enemy's 
fleet was considered of equal force. 
Commodore Barclay, its commander, 
was a veteran ofiicer, while Perry was 
yoiing and without experience as a 
commander. The battle began on the 
part of the Americans about 12 o'clock 
at noon. Perry's flag ship, the Law- 
rence, being disabled, he embarked in 
an open boat, and amidst a shower of 
bullets, carried the ensign of command 
on board of the Niagara, and once 
more bore down upon the enemy with 
the remainder of the fleet. The action 
became general and severe, and at four 
o'clock the whole British squadron, con- 
sisting of six vessels, carrying in all 
sixty-three guns, surrendered to the 
Americans. In giving information of 
his victory to General Harrison. Perry 
wrote : " We have met the enemy, and 
they are ours." 

This success on lake Erie opened a 
passage to the territory which had been 
surrendered by General Hull ; and 
General Harrison lost no time in trans- 
ferring the war thither. On the '22d of 
September, he landed his troops near 
Fort Maiden, but to his surprise, in- 



48. 



stead of an armed force, he met, at the 
entrance of the town, the maids and 
matrons of Amherstburg, who, in their 
best attire, had come forth to solicit the 
protection of the Americans. 



pressed. 



In October, 1807 (jreat Britain, by 
proclamation, recalled from foreign 
service all seamen and sea-farino- men 
who were natural born subjects, and 
ordered them to withdraw themselves 
and return home. At the same time it 
declared that no foreign letters of 
naturalization could divert its natural- 
born subjects of their allegiance, or 
alter their duty to their lawful sover- 
eign. 

In the United States, by the act of 
naturalization, a foreigner becomes 
entitled to all the privileges and im- 
munities of natural born citizens, ex- 
cept that of holding several offices, such 
as President and Vice-President. The 
two positions were those of absolute an- 
tagonism, and were alone sufficient to 
account for much of the controversy 
and heat which attended the war of 1812. 
Claims to the reclamation of British- 
born subje(;ts naturalized in America, 
and claims to impress them when found 
in American ships, were made on the 
one hand and resisted on the other. 
This was the state of things when the 
incidents took place which we are about 
to relate. 



49. 



The battle of Queenston closed with 
the surrender of Scott and his small 
force to the j^reatly superior uumbers 
under the command of General Sheaffe. 
These prisoners were sent to Quebec, 
thence in a cartel to Boston. When the 
prisoners were about to sail from Que- 
bec, Scott, bein^: in the cabin of the 
trans|)ort, heard a bustle upon deck, 
and hastened up. There he found a 
f)arty of British officers in the act of 
mustering prisoners, and separating 
from the rest such as, by confession or 
the accent oi: the voice, were judged to 
be Irishmen. The object was to send 
them, in a frigate then alongside, to 
England, to be tried and executed for 
the crime of high treason, they being 
taken in arms against their native alleg- 
iance. Twenty-three had been thus set 
apart when Scott reached the deck, and 
there were at least forty more of the 
«ame birth in the detachment. They 
were all in deep affliction at what they 
regarded as the certain prospect of a 
shameful death. Many were adopted 
citizens of the States, and several had 
families in the land of their adoption. 
The moment Scott ascertained the 
object of the British officers, acting 
under the express orders of the Gover- 
nor-General, Sir. George Provost, he 
commanded his men to answer no more 
questions, in order that no other select- 
ion should be made by the test of speech. 
He commanded them to remain abso- 
lutely silent, and they strictly obeyed. 
This was done in spite of the threats of 
the British officers, and not another 
man was separated from his companions. 
Scott was repeatedlyly commanded to 
go below, and high altercations ensued. 
He addressed the party selected, and 
«xpliiined to them fully the reciprocal 



50. 



obligations of allegiance and protection , 
and assuring them that the United 
States would not fail to avenge their 
gallant and faithful soldiers; and finally 
pledged himself, in the most solemn 
manner, that retaliation, and, if neces- 
sary, a refusal to give quarter in battle, 
should follow the execution of any one 
of the party. In the midst of this ani- 
mated harangue he was frequently in- 
terrupted by the British officers, but, 
though unarmed, could not be silenced. 

The Irishmen, whose names were as 
follows : Henry Kelley, Henry Blaney, 
George McCommon, John Dal ton, 
Michael Condin, John Clark, Peter 
Burr, Andrew Doyle, John McGowan, 
James Gill, John Fulsom, Patrick Mc- 
Braharty, Matthew Mooney, Patrick 
Karns, John Fitzgerald, John Wiley, 
John Douellj', John Curry, Nathan 
Shaley, Edward McGarrigan, John 
Dinuue, John Williams, George John- 
son, were put in irons on board the 
frigate and sent to England. When 
Scott landed in Boston, he proceeded to 
Washington and was duly exchanged. 
He immediately related to the President 
the scene which had occurred at Quebec, 
and was by him instructed to make a 
full report of the whole transaction, in 
writing, to the Secretary of War. This 
was done on the 13th of January, 1813. 
The result was that on March 3rd, 1813, 
an act was passed vesting the President 
of the United States with the power of 
retaliation. 

Two months after this (May 27th, 
1813,) in the battle and capture of Fort 
George, Scott made a great number of 
prisoners. True to his pledge given at 
Quebec, he, as Adjutant-General, (chief 
of staff) immediately selected twenty- 
three of the number to be confined in 



51. 



the interior of the United States, there 
to abide the fate of the twenty-three 
imprisoned and sent to England by the 
British officers. In making this select- 
ion he was careful not to include a 
single Irishman, in order that Irishmen 
might not be sacrificed for Irishmen. 
This step led, on both sides, to the con- 
finement as hostages of many other men 
and officers, all of whom were, of course, 
dependent for their lives on the fate of 
the original twenty-three. 

In July 1815, when peace had been 
months concluded, and Scott (then a 
a major-general) was passing along on 
the East Kiver side of the city of New 
York, he was attracted by loud cheers 
and bustle on one side of the piers. He 
approached the scene and great was his 
delight to find that it was the cheers of 
his old Irish friends, in whose behalf he 
had interfered at Quebec, and who had 
that moment landed in triumph, after a 
a confinement of more than two years in 
English prisons. He was quickly 
recognized by them, hailed as their 
deliverer, and nearly crushed by their 
warm-hearted embraces. Twenty-one 
were present, two having died natural 
deaths. 



52. 



T'be p[rm\/ Qiseiplined. 



The campaign of 1813 ended in dis- 
grace and disaster. The hopes of the 
nation which had been excited by the 
brilliant achievements with which it 
opened, sank to despair, when the army, 
after sustaining a partial defeat, made 
an abrupt and hasty retreat. 

Amidst the disasters of the campaign 
there was one benefit. The touch-stone 
of experience had been applied to the 
temper of the army, and it was now 
easy to take the pure metal from the 
dross. It was a hard school of adver- 
sity; but many a brave and highly gifted 
young man was framed by its teachings 
to become an accomplished and efficient 
officer. On the other hand it detected 
the emptiness and unfitness of many a 
fop, both young and old. who had been 
seduced into the service by the glitter of 
uniform and the pomp of military pa- 
rade. They were made to learn and 
feel their incompetency to endure the 
duties or the frowns of war. An ele- 
gant writer has well remarked, that the 
rude winter gales of Canada swept from 
our ranks the painted insects, which 
were fit only to spread their glittering 
wings in the summer sun; but, at the 
same time aroused and invigorated the 
eagle-spirits, which during the calm 
cower in solitude and silence, but, as the 
tempest rises, come forth from obscuri- 
ty to stem the storm and sport them- 
selves in the gale. 

The military spirit of the army was 
lost. New levies of troops were to be 
made and the spirit of daring, of confi- 
dence and energy, was to be created 
before they could take the field. 



53. 



To accomplish these objects, Colonel 
Scott, who, ou the 9th of March, 1814, 
was promoted to the rank of Brisadier- 
Geueral, immediately joined Major- 
General Brown, then marched with the 
army from the French Mills towards 
the Nia;T:ara Frontier. 

The army was rapidly assembled at 
Buffalo. It consisted at that time of 
iScott's briocade, Kipley's brigade, Hind- 
man's battalion of artillery (all regulars,) 
and Gen Porter's brigade of militia. 

Bcott's brigade consisted of the bat- 
talions of the 9th, the lltb and the 
25th regiments of infantry, with a de- 
tachment of the 22nd, and Touson's 
company of artillery. The brigade of 
Gen. Bipley was composed of the 1st, 
21st and 23rd infantry. Porter's com- 
mand was composed of bodies known as 
Canadian Volunteers, New York Vol- 
unteers and Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
The signal services rendered at a 
subsequent period, and the glory 
which they won for their country on 
hard-fonght battle-fields, renders it 
proper tbat we should record and re- 
member names so justly distinguished 
in history. 

These troops were placed in the 
school of instruction at Buffalo, where 
for three months they were drilled in 
all the evolutions and tactics necessary 
to give them the most accurate and 
thorough discipline. Officers and men 
were taught the proper distribution of 
duties between each other, between the 
different corps, and the different ser- 
vices, from the formation of a column 
of attack to the presentation of a salute, 
and to the exchange of the minutest 
courtesies. It is said that Scott, while 
at Buff'alo observed a captain passing a 
sentinel posted. The sentinel saluted 



54. 



him bv carrying arms, makiu- his mus- 
ket ring ^vith the action. The captain 
passed without acknowledging the 
saUite of the soldier. Gen. bcott sent 
an aide to him to say that he (the cap- 
tain) would take care to repass the seu- 
tinel in 20 minutes, and repair the tault, 
or take a trial before a court martial. 

The vahie of discipline, ot obedience, 
and of personal skill in their business, 
thus acquired by the troops of an army 
cannot be over-estimated For want ot 
it the brave and gallant, but undisci- 
plined volunteers of patriot armies have 
been scattered and driven by veteian 
soldiers fighting in a worse cause and 
having far less of moral motive to sus- 
to them. With it soldiers of despots 
have fought with invincible fi/^^^^^^^f ; 
ciioosino- graves where they stc^od, to 
Hfe^nreti^eat. The armies of fuwar-w 
would fall in the ranks, but without 
orders never retreat. . 

The troops of Cxreat Britain are well 
disciplined; and it was m the shari)est 
contest with them that the army ot 
Niagara soon proved how much it had 
gained in the camp of instruction at 

^ The apparent though not unprofitable 
inactivity which had P«^'^,t^^^|^„.^ ^^ 
American army of the north dm ng 
the spring of 1814, disappeared before 
the rising heat of the summer sun. in 
t le atter part of June General Brown 
returned ti ButMo, -nd thence orwar^ 
the storm of war, with its hm^i^d 
tramp, its load clanger, its heroic deeds 
and its untimely deaths, ^vas heaid 
swiftly sweeping along the shores ot the 
Niagara. 



55. 



Capture of fort grie, 



Early in the mornmor of the 3rd of 
July, 1814, Scott's brigade, with the 
artillery corps of Major Hindman, 
crossed the river and landed below Foi-t 
Erie, while Ripley's brigade landed 
above. Scott led the van, crossing in a 
boat with Colonel Camp, who had vol- 
unteered hig services, and was on the 
shore before the enemy's piquet fired a 
gun. The British garrison of Fort 
Erie consisted of parts of the 8th and 
100th regiments. It soon surrendered 
and 170, including seven officers, were 
taken prisoners, and sent to the Ameri- 
can side. Preparations were immedi- 
ately made to advance and attack the 
army of General Riall at Chippawa. 



The Battle of G^^ippawja. 

On the morning of the Fourth, Scott's 
brigade moved towards Chippawa, and 
for 16 miles he had a running fight with 
the Marquis of Tweedale, who com- 
manded the British 100th regiment, 'till 
at dusk the latter was driven across 
Chippawa Creek, and joined the main 
body of the British army under Gener- 
al Riall. The Marquis has since said 
that he could not account for the order 
of the pursuit until he recollected the 
fact that it was the A merican great an- 
niversary. 

The positions of the British and of 
the Americans on the 5th of July may 



;6. 



be easily understood. On the east side 
was the Niagara River, and near it the 
road to Ghippawa. On the west was a 
heavy wood. Between these, running 
from the woods to the river, were two 
streams, the principal of which was 
Ghippawa Creek. The other was a 
small stream above, known m history 
as Street's Creek. Behind, and below 
Ghippawa Creek, lay the army of (gen- 
eral Riall, with a heavy battery on one 
side and a block house on the other 
Scott's brigade had rested for the night 
on and above Street's Creek Over 
these streams the road to Ghippawa 
passed on bridges, the one over Street s 
iear the Americans and the other over 
the Ghippawa near the British. inis 
was the position of the respective par- 
ties on the morning of the 5th when 
General Brown was expecting to attacK 
the British, and they in turn determin- 
ed to anticipate it, by a sortie from the 
lines of Ghippawa. It was a long day 
in summer; the earth was dry and dusty, 
and the sun bright and hot when the 
best troops of Britain and America met 
as in tournaments of old, to test their 
skill, their firmness, and their courage 
on the banks of the Niagara. 

The day began with the skirmishes 
of light troops. The British militia and 
the Indians occupied the wood on the 
Americans left, and about noon annoy- 
ed the American piquets placed on the 
flank. General Porter, with volunteers, 
militia and some friendly Indians of the 
Six Nations, soon engaged them, ana, 
after some skirmishing, drove them 
through the wood back upon Cliippawa. 
Here the British, finding that their 
main army under General Riall was ad- 
vancing, rallied, and in turn attacked 



57. 



Porter, compelling his command to 
give way. In spite of his own efforts 
and personal gallantry, these light 
troops broke and tied, at sight of the 
formidable array of Eiall. 

It was now about four o'clock. Gen- 
eral Brt)wn was then in the woods with 
Porter; when a cloud of dust arose to- 
ward Chippawa, and tiring was heard. 
This ai)prised him that the British army 
was advancing. At this very moment, 
Gen.8cott,in ignorance of the British ad- 
vance, \ya8 moving his brigade towards 
the plain, simply for the purpose of 
drill. Near the bridge over Street's 
Creek he met General Brown, who said, 
"the enemy is advancing. You will 
have a light." Gen. Brown passed to 
the rear, to put Ripley's brigade in 
motion, and to reassemble the light 
troops behind Street's Creek. It was 
not till he arrived at the bridge, over 
Street's Creek, 200 yards to the right 
of his camp of the night before, that 
Scott saw the enemy. The army of 
liiall had crossed the bridge over Chip- 
pa\\a Creek, and displayed itself on the 
plain before described. It was compos- 
ed of the 100th regimeut under Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Marquis of Tweedale, the 
1st or Boyal Scots under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gordon, a portion of the 8th or 
King's regiment, a detachment of the 
Royal Artillery, a detachment of the 
Royal 19th Light Dragoons, and a por- 
tion of Canada militia and Indians. 
The main body of these troops were 
among the best in the British army. 

This force was supported by a heavy 
batterj^ of nine pieces, within point 
blank range of the American troops. 
Under the fire of this battery the corps 
of Scott passed the bridge in perfect 



order but, with some loss. His first and 
second battalions, under Majors Leaven- 
worth and McNeil, after crossing form- 
ed a line to the front, which brought 
them opposed respectively to the left 
and centre of the enemy. The third 
battalion under Major Jesup obliqued 
in column to the left, and advanced to 
attack the right of the enemy, which 
extended into the woods. Captain Tow- 
son with his artillery was station ed on 
the right, resting- in the road to Chip- 
pawa. 

Without going into further detail we 
would simply say that the action now 
became general. Major Jesup now in 
the woods, and out of view, engaged 
and held in check the enemy's right 
wing. The plain widened on the flank, 
and the enemy's main line continued to 
advance. Jessup having thus held in 
check one battalion in the woods, the 
engagement there gave the enemy a 
new right flank upon the plain. Gener- 
al Scott, who had continued alternately 
to advance and fire, was now not more 
than 80 paces from the enemy. The 
enemy having a new flank, Scott took 
advantage of the enlarged interval be- 
tween Leavenworth and McNeil, to 
throw the left flank of McNeils's battal- 
ian forward on its right, so that it stood 
obliquely to the enemy's charge and 
flanked him a little on his new right. 
At this moment. Gen. Scott called aloud 
to McNeil's battalion, which had not a 
recruit in it : "The enemy says that 
we are good at a long shot, but cannot 
stand the cold iron, i call upon the 
Eleventh instantly to give the lie to 
that slander. Charge ! " This move- 
ment was executed with decisive effect. 
A corresponding charge was also made 



59. 



by Leavenworth, who held an oblique 
position on our right. These char^jjes, 
sustained by the flank tire of Towson's 
artillery on the right, quickly put 
the enemy to rout. 

lu the mean time, and nearly at the 
same, Major Jesup, commanding the 
left flank battalion, finding himself 
pressed in front and flank, ordered his 
men to ''support arms and advance." 
This order was promptly obeyed amidst 
a deadly and destructive fire. Having 
gained a more secure position, he re- 
turned so severe a fire as caused them 
to retire. Thus was the whole British 
line fairly routed in a field action on an 
open plain. They fled to their intrench- 
ments beyond Chippawa Creek, hotly 
pursued by iScott to the distance of half 
musket shot of Chippawa Bridge. He 
took many prisoners, leaving the plain 
behind strewn with the dead and 
wounded of both nations. 

The contending forces on the British 
side, according to the British Adjutant- 
General's report, dated the 13tb of July, 
181-i, in giving a return of the kiiledi 
and wounded, enumerates the 1st regi- 
ment, (Royal Scots) the 8th, (Queen's) 
the 100th, (Marquis of Twedale'sj a de- 
tachment of Royal 19th, (dragoons) a 
detachment of artillery and a portion 
of Canada Militia. These regiments 
were not full, but altogether numbered 
about 2,100 men. Of which 138 were 
killed, 319 wounded and 46 missing; 
total loss 503. 

The American troops were the 8th, 
11th and 25th infantry, with a detach- 
ment of the 22nd, Towson's artillery 
and Porter's Volunteers, making 
1900 men, all told, of which 60 were 
killed, 248 wounded and 19 missing, 



60. 



making a total loss of 327, making- a 
grand total loss of 830 from about 4,000 
men. 

A Britisli officer who wrote at the 
time said/*Niimerous as were the battles 
of Napoleon, and brave as were his 
soldiers, I do not believe that he, the 
greatest warrior that ever lived, can 
produce an instance of a contest so well 
maintained, or, in proportion to num- 
bers engaged, so bloody, as that at 
Chippawa." 

The battle was fought on the 5th day 
of July, 1814, on Chippawa Plains, and 
was an exciting and in some degree a 
poetic scene. It was fought at the 
close of a long, bright, summer day. 
On one side rolled the waters of the 
deep blue Niagara, on the other was 
seen the verdure of the northern forest. 
The plain on which the hostile forces met 
was level and smooth, as if prepared for 
the meeting of the warriors of ancient 
knighthood. The best troops of England 
wheeled into it over Chippawa Bridge 
and the regiments of America, cool and 
determined, marched to meet them in 
combat. The sun shone down, and 
brilliant arms Hashed in its beams. 
Each movement of the troops was dis- 
tinct. As the battle deepened, fine 
bands of music mingled their mek)dy, in 
sudden bursts, with the roar of artillery 
and the moans of the wounded. 

The battle ended and many were the 
dead on that dusty plain, whose last 
groans expired with the last rays of the 
sun. Darkness came on, and wearied 
with battle and thirsty from heat, each 
army retired to its camp, the Americans 
being victorious. The dead woke not 
from their bloody beds, the living sank 
to rest. 



61. 



[Rattle of [^undj/*s [^ane. 



After the campaign of 1813, Fort Mes- 
sasang-ua was erected near the mouth of 
Niagara river and added to the defences 
of Fort George. These forts General 
Eiall. the British commander, reinforc- 
ed and then retired to Burlington 
Heights, near the head of Lake Ontario, 
soon after the battle of Chippawa. 

On the 10th of July, 1814, the Ameri- 
can camp was removed to Queenston, 
with the view of capturing these 
defences before commencing any inter- 
ior operations. To accomplish this ob- 
ject General Brown sent to Sackett's 
Harbor for heavy cannon, which were 
to have been transported by the Ameri- 
can vessels to the place of action, but as 
Commodore Chauncey lay sick at the 
time, and the enemy had a momentary 
superiority on the lake, the intentions 
of the commander in regard to the ports 
at the mouth of the Niagara were dis- 
appointed. 

Gen. Brown theh determined to attack 
Burlington Heights; but to induce the 
enemy to descend, and at the same time 
draw a small supply of provisions from 
Schlosser, he masked his intentions by 
feigning a retreat up the Niagara, 
recrossed Chippawa Creek and en- 
camped. 

Had this movement failed to with- 
draw the British troops from the 
Heights, it was intended to use the 25th 
as a day of rest and on the 26th to send 
General Scott forward by the road from 
Queenston, and force Eiall to action, no 
matter how strongly he might be posted. 
But events determined otherwise, and 



G2. 



what was intended to be a daj' of rest, 
was one of the most active and bloody 
days of the campaign. 

In the afternoon of the 25th, amidst 
general relaxation, General Brown 
received a note from a colonel of militia 
whose regiment occnpied two or three 
posts on the American side of the 
Niagara, stating in the most precise 
terms, that the enemy had thrown 
a thousand men across from Queenston to 
Lewiston for some reason not exactly 
understood. But General Brown con- 
jectured that it was the enemy's inten- 
tion to capture our magazines, and to 
intercept supplies coming from Buffalo. 
In order to recall him from this object. 
Brown immediately determined to 
threaten the forts at the mouth of the 
Niagara. 

In less than 20 minutes Scott's com- 
mand was put in motion for that pur- 
pose. His force consisted of four small 
battalions, under Col. Brady, and 
Majors Jesup, Leavenworth and McNeil, 
Captain Towson's artillery, and Captain 
Harris's detachment of regular and 
volunteer cavalry; in all amounting to 
1,300 men. So hurriedly did they start 
that there was not time to call in the 
guards belonging to these jorps. 

About two miles from the camp and 
just above the Falls, Scott discovered a 
few British officers, mouted, who as it 
turned out, were in advance to recon- 
noitre, and soon learned that the enemy 
was in some little force below and only 
intercepted from view by a small 
wood' 

In this situation. General Scott reiiec- 
ted a moment on what course would be 
best to pursue. He was instructed to 
march rapidly on the forts, under posi- 



63. 



tive information (given as we have nar- 
rated to General Brown,) that Riall had, 
three hours before, thrown half his force 
across the Niagara at Lewiston. Re- 
flecting that the whole had been beaten 
on the 5th inst.,he lost no time in recon- 
noitreing, but dashed forward to dis- 
perse what he thought was the remnant 
of the British army opposed to him. 

After dispatching Assistant Adjutant- 
General Jones to General Brown with 
the information that the enemy was in 
front, he proceeded to pass the wood, 
and was greatly astonished to find 
directly in front, drawn up in order of 
battle, on Lundy's Lane with nine pieces 
of artillery, a larger fc»rce than he 
had encountered at Chippawa 20 days 
before. The position he was in was ex- 
tremely critical. To stand fast wa» out 
of the question, being already under a 
heavy fire of the enemies artillery and 
musketry. To retreat was equally as 
hazardous: for there is always in such a 
case the probability of confusion, and 
at this time the danger of creating a 
panic in the reserve, then supposed to 
be coming up, and which had not been 
in the previous battle. 

Scott saw that no measure but one of 
boldness would succeed. He therefore 
determined to maintain the battle 
against superior numbers and positions 
until the reserve came up, thus giving 
General Riall the idea that the whole 
American army was at hand. This 
would prevent him from profiting by 
his numerical strength to attack our 
flanks and rear. He would thus lose 
the initial, a matter of no small impor- 
tance* in military enterprise. The 
scheme succeeded, and for a long time 
the enemy was kept on the defensive. 



64. 



till the American reserve came up and 
entered into the action. 

It appears from General Drummond's 
report on July 26th, that he thought his 
position in Lundy's Lane was attacked 
by the whole American army. He 
thanks the army for "repulsing the 
efforts of a numerous and determined 
enemy to carry the position of Lundy's 
Lane." Bat tlie truth was that the 
American combatants stood for more 
than an hour and maintained a contest 
against a force seven times their num- 
ber. 

In the meanwhile ' Scott had sent back 
to General Brown, Lieutenant Doug- 
lass, as well as Major Jones, to report 
the condition of atiairs. The first was 
to report that the remnant of Riall's 
army was raaneouveriug to protect the 
detachment thrown over the Niagara; 
the second was to inform the general 
that so far from being diminished, the 
British army was actually reinforced, 
and thus to hasten up the reserve. 

On the British side the facts were 
these: In the night before, the night of 
the 24th, Lieutenant-General Sir Gor- 
don Drummoud had arrived, in the 
British fleet, at the mouth of the Niag- 
ara, with a large reinforcement from 
Kingston and Prescott. This was 
wholly unknown to General Brown. 
Drummoud had, in advance, sent instruc- 
tions to Riall to meet him on the 25th, 
on the Niagara. Accordingly Riall had 
marched up the very road it had been 
arranged Scott was to take on the 26th. 
He had come b3^ Queenston without 
putting a man over the Niagara. He 
had continued his route, as the advance 
of Drummond's army towards the 
Falls. On the way he had already been 



G5. 

joined by two of the battalions which 
had come up in the fleet. The others 
arrived successively, at intervals ot halt 
an hour or an hour, after the action 
had commenced. . 

The battle began about 40 minutes be- 
fore sunset and like its predecessor at 
Ohippawa was the closing drama ot a 
long and warm summer's day. AncUike 
that, too, it signalized among the attairs 
of men a spot which in the world ot 
nature had been rendered illustrious 
by one of the great and glorious works 

of God. , . X u • 

When the battle was about to begin 
just as the setting sun sent his red 
beams from the west, they fell upon 
the spray, which continually goes up, 
like incense, from the deep, dashing 
torrent of Niagara. The bright light 
was divided into its primal hues, and a 
rainbow rose from the waters, encircling 
the head of the advancing column. In 
a more superstitious age such a sign 
would have been regarded, like the 
Eoman auguries, as a precursor of vic- 
tory. Even now this bow of promise 
furnished the inspiration of hope, with 
the colors of beauty. 

The sun had now gone down, and 
darkness came on, but no reinforce- 
ments had yet appeared. But the gal- 
lant band maintained the battle, 
although an officer reminded the gener- 
al that the rule for retiring was accom- 
plished since more than one-fourth of 
his number was killed or wounded, 
among whom were many of his officers. 
The brave Col. Brady had been the first 
to form his regiment, and on that the 
loss fell the heaviest. Himself twice 
wounded, he was entreated, by those 
who observed him pale from the loss of 



blood, to quit the field. "Not while I 
can stand," was the reply, worthy of 
Lieonidas. 

It was now nine o'clock. The ene- 
my's right had been driven back from 
its flank assault with great loss. His 
left was turned and cut off. His center 
alone remained firm. It was posted on 
a ridge and supported by nine pieces of 
artillery. 

Another battalion of Uriimmond's 
reinforcements had already arrived, and 
a fourth one was only a few miles be- 
hind. fSuch was the state of the field 
when the reinforcements appeared. 
Gen. Ripley, by whom it was command- 
ed, had been ordered to form his bri- 
gade, on the skirt of a wood to the right 
of Gen. Scott. But, finding that this 
position was not favorable, he took the 
responsibility of first moving nearer to 
the British. For this purpose he was 
about to pass the brigade of Scott, bub 
coming between him and the enemy, he 
found that he was suffering severely 
from their cannon. Ripley then con- 
ceived the bold thought of storming the 
formidable battery. "Col. Miller," 
said he, "can^'^ou take yonder battery ?" 
" I will try," was the answer of that heart 
of oak— a phrase now familiar to all 
American lips. At the head of the 
21st regiment, he calmly took his 
course, guided by Gen. Scott, who was 
perfectly acquainted with the ground, 
till he had the right direction, marched 
up to the mouth of the blazing cannon, 
around which the enemy had rallied, 
bayonetted the men while firing and 
possessed himself of their guns. Ripley 
had moved at the same time, at the 
head of the 23rd regiment, to the attack 
of the infantry, and drove them down 



G7. 



the eminence, which was the key of 
of their position. 

Here Ripley formed his brigude. 
Gen. Porter, with his vohmteers, was 
on the right and the artillery of Towson 
in the center. The enemy rallied in 
their might and advanced to regain 
their position and artillery. The Amer- 
icans perceived that the enemy was 
coming on, but could not distinctly 
ascertain from what point. The moon 
had risen, but dark clouds were in the 
heavens, and the light was fitful. 
Sounds came indistinctly mingled from 
every quarter. The roar of the catar- 
act, the shrieks and groans of tlie ds^ing 
and wounded, the discharge of artillery, 
were all heard, as well as the rush of 
the enemy's attack. In this situation 
Kipley gave his troops the order to wait 
til the enemy's bayonets touched their 
own, and to take aim by the light from 
the discharge of their muskets. The 
aim of the Americans was good and 
numbers of their brave enemy fell. 
They closed up their ranks and came on 
with the bayonet. The Americans 
stood the charge and sturdily pushed 
back the thrust. For 20 minutes this 
deadly strife continued when the veter- 
ans of the Duke of Wellington retreated 
in disorder. But they renewed the at- 
tack until they were four times 
repulsed. At length, about midnight, 
they ceased to contend, and left their 
position and artillery to the Americans. 
Although the brunt of the battle was 
on the eminence, other efforts were 
being made in different parts of the 
field. The brigade of Scott, shattered 
as it was, having formed anew, was not 
content to look idly on, while their 
bretheru, who had stepped between 



G8. 



them and death, were now bleeding in 
their turn. Gen. 8cott charged at 
their head, through an opening in Rip- 
ley's line, but in the contusion and 
darkness of the scene, he passed be- 
tween the fires of the combatants. Ht; 
afterwards in the light took his post 
on Ripley's left. In another quarter. 
Col. Jessup, with only 200 men, advanced 
upon the enemy, br(jught them to close 
action, drove them from the 
ground and captured Gen. Riall with 
other officers and soldiers to a number 
almost equal to his own. 

Major Ketchum, of the 25th regiment 
of iufantr3^ was the officer who person- 
all}'^ made Gen. Riall a prisoner. The 
British general was brought to Scott 
by Major Ketchum, and directions were 
given that the distinguished prisoner be 
taken to the rear, and treated with the 
greatest possible kindness. Riall, badly 
wounded, lay some days in the same 
house in Williamsville, with Scott, 
yet more severely crippled. 

The latter as a special favor, obtained 
permission from our government, for 
Riall to return to England on parole, 
and the same permission for Riall's 
friend, Major Wilson, also badly 
wounded, captured at Chippawa. Such 
favors were, however, at that time only, 
granted by the American government; 
Sir George Prevost and the British 
ministry never consented to place on 
parole or to exchange a pristmer after 
the Americans confined the 23 hostages 
in 1813. 

In this sanguinary contest the total 
loss of the British was 878. Generals 
Drummond and Riall were among the 
wounded. The American loss in killed, 
wounded and missing was 860. Of 



60. 



these 11 officers were killed, among 
whom were Major McFarland and 
Captain llitchie. 1^'ifty-six officers were 
wounded, amonjjj whom were Generals 
Brown and Scott; it was not, however, 
until towards the close of the action that 
the two officers highest in command 
were disabled. Gen. Brown, on receiv- 
ing his wound, gave notice to Gen. Rip- 
ley that he was left in command, but or- 
dered him to collect the wounded, re- 
move the artillery and retire to the 
camp at Chippawa. 

General Brown in his official report 
said. " While retiring from the field, I 
saw and felt that the victory was com- 
plete on our part, if proper measures 
were promptly adopted to secure it. 
The exhaustion of the men was, however, 
such as made some refreshments 
necessary. They particularly required 
water." 

Unfortunately the Americans lost the 
trophies of their hard-earned victory 
as no means of removing the captured 
artillery were at hand, and General 
Ripley was obliged to leave it on the 
field of battle. The British on learning 
that the Americans had abandoned the 
field, re-occupied it immediately, and 
taking advantage of this circumstance, 
their officers in their dispatches to their 
government boastfully claimed the vic- 
tory. 

The world has seen mightier armies 
moved oyer more memorable fields and 
followed by louder reports of the far 
resounding trumpet of fame; a bloodier 
scene for those engaged, a severer test 
of courage and of discipline, or one 
whose action was more closely associated 
with the sublime and beautiful in nature 
the world has not seen. The armies 



70. 



were drawn out near the shores of that 
rapid river wliose current mingles lake 
with lake, and hard by was that cata- 
ract whose world of Avaters rushes over 
the precipice, and, rushing, roars into 
the gulf below. The ceaseless si)ray 
rises like incense to the Eternal Father. 
The beams of sun, moon and stars fall 
ceasely on that spray and are sent back 
in many colored hues to the source of 
light. So it was when wheeling into the 
field of battle the slant rays of the set- 
ting sun returning from the spray en- 
circled the advancing column with rain- 
bow colors. The sun went down, to 
many an eye, to raise no more on 
earth. 

With the darkness came the greater 
rage of battle— charge after charge was 
made. For a time the faint beams of 
the moon struggled with the smoke and 
gave a little light to the combatants: but 
it was but little. The moon itself be- 
came obscured, and "no light save the 
rapid Hashes of muHket and cannon 
pierced the heav3^ clouds. 

The tight raged in the darkness of the 
night. From the height on the ridge 
the batter3^ of the enemy still poured its 
deadly tire. 

It was then that the gallant Miller 
said: " I will try." It was then that 
Wcott piloted his column through the 
darkness to Lundy's Lane. It was then 
that the brave regiment charged to the 
cannon's mouth. The battery was tak- 
en and victory rests with the American 
army. 

It was midnight. The battle is ended. 
The army faint and weary drags itself 
from the field. The well sink to their 
couch to dream of homes far away. 
The wounded groan in their painful 



71. 

hospital. The dead rest until the 
last trumpet shall summon them to the 
last array. The warrior with his gar- 
ments rolled in blood has left the scene 
of strugo-les. pain and death. Some 
kind friend may have sought him wheth- 
er dead or alive; but the war-drum has 
ceased to beat; the artillery ceased to 
roll; and now the solemn, sonorous fall 
of Niagara is to the dead their requiem, 
and to the living their song of glory. 



Drummond at ft. Grie, 



Gen. Brown had been taken wounded 
from the field of Lundy's Lane. To- 
wards the close of the battle, Scott, also 
twice wounded, was borne out of the 
action. 

General Brown did not, however, at 
once resign the command. He direct- 
ed Gen. Ripley to return to camp, after 
bringing off the dead, the wounded and 
the artillery. But unfortunately, for 
the want of horses, harness and drao-- 
ropes, the captured artillery of the 
enemy was left behind -a circumstance 
much regretted. 

The American army, now reduced to 
1,000 men, fell back to Chippawa, and 
there converted the works thrown up 
by the enemy into defenses against 
him. On the report that Gen. Drum- 
mond, at the head of 5,000 British, was 
fast approaching, the American camp 
was hastily broken up, its position aban- 
doned, and a retreat made to Fort 
Erie, where they strongly intrenched 



72. 



themselves by makmg such defences as 
was in their power. On the 5th ot 
August, by order of Gen. Brown, Briga- 
dier-General Gaines f^'iyed from 
Sackett's Harbor and took the com- 

"^On'the 3rd of August, General 
Drummond appeared in the neigbor- 
hood of Fort Erie, and finding it impossi- 
ble to carry it by storm, was compelled to 
commence a regular siege bo between 
the 3rd and 12th of August, Drummond 
employed himself in endeavorin- to cut 
oft the American's provisions, and in tlie 
preparatory measures ot opening 
trenches and establishing batteries. On 
the morning of the 13th lie commenced 
a cannonade and bombardment, ihis 
was continued through the day, renew- 
ed on the morning of the Uth and con- 
tinued until seven o'clock m the evening, 
bnt without any serious injury to tue 
American ranks. On that day General 
Gaines doubled his guards and Pyepai- 
ed for an assault. At two o'clock m the 
morning of the 15th a heavy Bntish 
colamn was found approaching Tow- 
son's battery, stationed at the northwest 
an-le of the works, where it was received 
by^the cannon of Towson and the mus- 
ketry under the gallant Major Wood, 
and was effectually repulsed. 

A second attack was also repulsed, 
when the British column changed its 
direction and attacked the western 
angle, with just as little success. 

In the mean time tbe center column 
under Colonel Drummond, alter a san- 
crainary conflict, succeeded in scaling 
the walls and taking possession of the 
exterior bastions ot the ol^^ ^^J^; 
While this savage man was denying 
mercy to the conquered Americans, a 



73. 



quantity of cartridges in a small stone 
buildinor within the bastion, exploded 
scattering death and confiisioH around 
and expelling the British from the fort. 
They suffered severely, having left be- 
hind a large number of killed, wounded 
and prisoners. According to the Brit- 
ish official report their loss on this day 
was 57 killed, of whom were Colonels 
Scott audDrummond, 313 wounded and 
539 missing. The total loss of the 
Americans was but 84. 

In fine, the British were most gallant- 
ly and effectually defeated in their at- 
tempt to storm Fort Erie. 

After this repulse, both armies re- 
mained in a state of inactivity for some 
time. General Gaines having been 
wounded by the bursting of a shell, the 
command again devolved on General 
Eipley. 



Sortie ^rom yt. grie, 



On the 2nd of September, General 
Brown, though not yet fully recovered 
from the wounds received at Lundy's 
Lane, resumed the command of his di- 
vision. After a full examination of the 
topographical position of Drummond's 
lines, he thought that a bold and vigor- 
ous sortie would be more than mere 
defence in relieving the American army 
from the siege of the enemy. Accord- 
ingly, on the morning of the 17th of 
September General Brown, paraded his 
troops, to the number of about 2,000, in 
nearly equal proportion of regulars 
and militia, for a sortie on the enemy's 



74. 

works. The army of Sir Gordon 
Drummond had then infested lort 
Erie for 45 days. During that time 
they had erected regiUar lines and bat- 
teries. They had bombarded the 
American defences and made an unsnc- 
cessful attack upon them. At this tmie 
they had erected two batteries and were 
about two open a third. Their forces 
were divided into three brigads, each 
of which in turn guarded the batteries, 
while the other two were encamped 
about two miles distant, out of reach of 
the American cannon, but near enough 
to support the troops at the batteries. 

In this position of aftairs Creneral 
Brown determined to storm the bat- 
teries, destroy the cannon and defeat 
the brigade. So at 2.30 p. m. of the 
17tb of August General Porter lett the 
camp at the head of a detachment to 
penetrate a passage through the woods. 
Being perfectly acquainted with the 
ground, he with his men, trod silently 
and circuitously along, when, arrivmg 
at their destined point, they rushed upon 
the enemy and so successful was the en- 
terprise that in 30 minutes batteries 
No. 2 and 3 were in the posses- 
sion of the Americans with two block 
houses. Soon after battery No. 1 was 
abandoned and the magazine of No. 
3 blown up. The cannon were spiked 
or dismantled and the garrison taken 
prisoners, but the brave Colonels Gib- 
son and Wood had fallen at the head ot 
their columns. _ . . , , i.i i. -^ 

So great was the British loss that it 
became apparent that the siege of Fort 
Erie could not be protracted with any 
hope of success. 

• Accordingly, Lieut. -General Drum- 
mond broke up his camp during the 



75. 



night of the 21st of September and re- 
turned to his intrenchments behind 
Chippawa Creek. 

Soon after this, the arrival of General 
Izard placed the Americans on a footing • 
which once more enabled them to com- 
mence offensive operations; and leaving 
Fort Erie in command of Colonel Hind- 
man, General Brown again advanced 
towards Chippawa. Near this place 
an affair occured on the 20th of October 
in which Colonel Bissell, with a detach- 
ment of 1,000 men, gained an advantage 
over a detachment of 1,200, under the 
Marquis of Tweedale. 

On the 10th of November the Ameri- 
ican army abandoned and destroyed 
Fort Erie, crossed the river and retired 
into winter quarters at Bufifalo,when the 
war on the IS iagara Frontier was in fact 
ended. 



Resume. 



During the year 1814 there had been a 
succession of brilliant military actions, 
and much courage, skill and energy 
exhibited. Taken all in all, no cam- 
paign in American history has displayed 
more of the qualities of mind and body, 
art and science, which are more to the 
character of a true soldier or the success 
of an army in action. In a little less 
than three mouths the army of Riall 
and Drummond, twice renewed and re- 
inforced by troops from Europe, had 
been defeated in four pitched battles. 

In the descriptions we have given of 
the several, the numbers engaged on 
either side are stated in each one, as 



76. 



near as the materials preserved by his- 
tory will allow ns to estimate. 

The following table v/ill show the 
total loss in killed, wounded and prison- 
ers taken by each army in the differ- 
ent battles : 

Americau British 
Loss. Loss. 
Battle of Chippawa, fought 

July 5th, 1814 338 507 

Battle of Lnndy's Lane, 

fovif4ht July 25th, 1814 860 878 

Assault on Fort Erie, Au- 

g-ust 15th, 1814 84 815 

Sortie from Fort Erie, 

September 17th, 1814 511 900 

1783 3100 

If the total number of troops engaged 
in the several battles on both sides was 
about 12,000, it follows that nearly one 
half were among the killed, wounded 
and prisoners, which is a loss exceeding, 
in proportion, that of the most bloody 
battles of Napoleon. 



I^urning of the G^iroline. 



Although England had governed the 
Canadas with great moderation, yet in 
1837 by the instigation of W. L. Mc- 
Kenzie, a party arose, who claiming 
independence, passed from secession to 
armed revolt. And when the flame 
of insurrection was kindled in Canada, 
it was not arrested by a mere line of 
jurisdiction; but it reached and agitated 
the frontier inhabitants of the United 
States, along the border from the 
hills of Vermont to the Huron of the 
northwest. On the frontier, the citizens 



77, 



enrolled themselves as Canadian patriots 
or sympathizers until many of the 
inhabitants capable of bearing arms 
were proftessed fri-ends and abettors of 
the Canadian movemeut. Thousands 
.met in lodges along the border, oaths 
ot secrecy were administered, principles 
appointed, general and staff officers 
chosen, an<i, at least for Upi>er Canada, 
a provisional government formed. The 
President of the Unittxi States issued 
his proclamation ^njoiniug all good citi- 
zens to observe the strictest neutrality 
towards the British provinces, but it 
had little effect. 

The arms in the hands of the citizens 
and even those in the State arsenals 
within reach of the borders, were soon 
seized or purloined, thus affording 
equipments to the Canadian patriots. 
A Mr. Van Eenssellear, with some 700 
followers crossed from Schlosser, two 
miles above Niagara Falls, and took 
possession of Navy Island on the Brit- 
ash side of Niagara River. 

This idle invasion, though unimpor- 
tant to the Canadas, was not without its 
-consequences in history. It was follow- 
•ed by a very serious incident, which ex- 
cited deep feeling in the United States, 
and was the subject of much diplomatic 
correspondence. 

A small steamer called the Caroline, 
which was built at Charleston, S. C, in 
1822, and had a c^H^acity of 45 tons, was 
brought to New York, thence by river 
and canal to Lake Ontario, where she 
was employed for some time as a ferry 
boat. She was then taken through the 
Welland Canal to Lake Erie, and em- 
ployed upon the Detroit River. In the 
summer of 1837 she was seized 
for smuggling, taken to Buffalo and 



78. 



sold. It was then that she was engaged 
by Van Rensselear to act as a ferry-boat 
between Schlosser and Navy Island. 
But the very night the Caroline com- 
menced her voyages between these two 
points, one hundred and fifty armed 
men from the Canada side, in live boats 
with muffled oars, proceeded to Bchlos-- 
ser, cut the Caroline loose from her 
moorings, and setting her on fire let 
her drift over the falls. 8he happened 
to be full of idle people, including 
boys, not connected with Van Rensse- 
lear, but who had been attracted to the 
frontier by the ramor of war, and who 
had simply begged a night's lodging. 
One man named Durfee was killed and 
several others wounded. When this 
occurred a flame of excitement went up 
throughout the interior of the United 
States. The sentiment of patriotism 
and the feeling of revenge were 
frequently mingled together, and the 
peace of this country, and perhaps of all 
other civilized nations, was threatened 
by this act of outrage committed on the 
Caroline. 

At that time the question was asked: 
"Why did the English pass Navy Island 
in Canada where the patriots had 
hoisted their flags and waited for them, 
and attack an unarmed boat in New 
York State ? " At the anniversary dinner 
in Toronto, in honor of the "heroes" 
who defeated the Yankees, the Hon. 
John Emsley, a member of the Head 
Government was present and said: 
"After a desperate engagement of some 
minutes she was fired and rode the 
waves a blazing beacon of infamy, until 
she sank into the abyss below. (Loud 
cheers.) Gentlemen I glOry in having 
been one of those that destroyed this 



J 



79. 



boat." The Montreal Herald of 
December 29, 1838, said: "Col. Holmers 
and the officers of his brigade held their 
first regimental mess dinner at Orr's 
Hotel. The room was decorated with 
transparencies of Her Majesty, the 
Duke of Wellington, Brittania, the 
steamer Caroline in flames going over 
the Falls of Niagara, and a globe with 
the motto: 'The British Empire, on 
which the sun never sets.' Sir Allan 
McNab was toasted and many a joke 
was cracked at the expense of the un- 
fortunate Americans on board the 
Caroline." 

The Caroline was destroyed Decem- 
ber 29th, 1837, and the news reached 
Washington January 4th. A Cabinet 
meeting was called and General Scott 
was told that blood had been spilled 
•and he must hasten to the frontier. 
Full power was give him to call for mil- 
itia, to put himself in communication 
with the United States district 
attorneys, marshalls and collectors in 
order, through them, to enforce the act 
of neutrality, the good faith pledged to 
Great Britain by treaty, and to defend 
our own territory, if necessary against 
invasion, or to maintain peace through- 
out the borders. 

In 1812 Scott appeared upon the same 
theatre as the leader of battalions and 
the victor of battles. But now, rhetoric 
and diplomacy were to be his principal 
weapons, his countrymen and friends 
his object of conquest, and a little cor- 
respondence with the British authorities 
beyond the line, as an episode to the 
whole. 

In order to shorten this narrative we 
will not stop to give a history of the 
wild rumors that were afloat at that 



80. 



time, agitating the minds of the people 
and keeping them in a constant state of 
excitement, causing them to get up in 
the dead hours of the night to flee from 
some imaginary foe. 

Not many days after the burning of 
the Oarohne, another steamer, the 
Barcek)na, was cut out the ice in Buf- 
falo harbor, and taken down the Niagara 
river to be oliered to the patriots, who 
were still on Navy Island. Scott wished 
to compel them to discontinue their 
criminal enterprise. He also desired to 
have them, on returning within our 
jurisdiction, arrested by the marshall, 
who was always with him. For this 
purpose, he sent an agent to hire the 
Barcelona for the service of the United 
States, before the patriots could get 
means to pay for her, or find sureties to 
idemify her owners in case of her cap- 
ture or destruction by the British. He 
succeeded in all these objects. The 
Barcelona was taken back to Bufifalo, 
and as she slowly ascended against the 
current on the American side of Grand 
Island, three armed British schooners, 
besides batteries on land were in posi- 
tion, as the day before, to sink her as 
she came out from behind the island. 
On the 16th of January, Scott and Gov. 
Marcy stood on the American shore 
opposite that point, watching events. 
Tiie smoke of the approaching boat 
could be seen in the distance, and the 
purpose of the British was perfectly 
evident in all their movements. The 
batteries on our side were promptly 
put into position. The matches were 
lighted. All was ready to return 
the lire of the British. There 
was a crisis. 



81. 



The day before this, when it was sup- 
posed the Navy Island people were 
coming lip the same channel in other 
craft, and before it was known that the 
Barcelona had accepted his offered 
engagement, IScott wrote on his knee 
and dispatched by an aide-de-camp the 
lollowmg note: 

Headquarters Eastern Division ^ 
U. S. Army. ( 

(two miles below Black Kock) [ 
January 15th, 1838. J 
To the Commander of the Armed Brit- 
ish Vessels in the Niagara: 
Sir— 

^y^vT^ ^i« Excellency the Gov- 
ernor ot New York, who has troops at 
hand, we are here to enforce neutrality 
ot the United States, and to protect our 
soil and waters from violation. The 
proper civil authorities are also present 
to arrest, It practicable, the leaders of 
clTnadr '^'''' «n foot against Upper 

Under these circumstances it gives me 
pain to i)erceive the armed vessels men- 
tioned anchored in our waters, with 
probable intention to fire upon that 
waiters moving in the same 

Unless the expedition should first 
attack-in which case we shall interfere 
—we shall be obliged to consider a dis- 
charge ot shot or shell from or into our 
waters, from the armed schooners of 
her Ma.iesty, as an act seriously com- 
promising the neutrality of the two 
nations. I hope, therefore, that no 
such unpleasant incident may occur 

1 have the honor to remain &c., 

WiNDFiELD Scott. 



82. 



The same intimatiou was repeated 
aud explained the next morning, Janu- 
ary IGth, to a cai)tain of the Britiali 
army, who had occasion to wait npon 
Scott on other business, aud who im- 
mediately returned. It was just then 
that the Barcelona moved np the cur- 
rent of the Niagara. The cannon on 
either side were pointed, the matches 
lii^hted and thousands stood in suspense. 
On Scott's note and his personal assur- 
ance, alone depended the question of 
peace or war. Hai)pily these assur- 
ances had their just ell'ect. The Barce- 
lona passed alon<^-. The British did not 
lire. The matches were extinguished; 
the two nations, guided bj' wise ct)un- 
sel resumed their usual way, and war's 
wild alarms were hushed into the whis- 
pers of peace. 

The patriots evacuated Navy Island 
on the 15th inst., aud as soon as they 
landed. Van Rensselaer and his associ- 
ates were arrested, as Scott said they 
should be, in his note written a few 
hours previous to the arrests. A Mr. 
McLeod was also arrested and tried by 
a United States court, for the murder of 
Durfee, but was acquitted. 

As small a place as this incident may 
occupy in history, it was a critical 
moment in the affairs of nations. Had 
one British gun been fired, and much 
more had the Barcelona been destroyed 
no authority nor influence would have 
restrained our excited population from 
taking up arms, aud an unpremeditated 
war would have been the result. It 
would have been a war from an 
incident, and not from a national con- 
troversy. 



83. 



In April, 1838, at the annual dinner of 
the St. George's Society in Canada the 
fla.i? of the Caroline hung as a trophy 
behind the president's chair, and the 
officers present were applauding. Capt. 
Marryast, the novelist, rose and pro- 
posed as a voluntary toast, "Captain 
Drew and his brave companions who 
cut out the Caroline." It was received 
with great applause. On May 20, 1838, 
the steamboat Sir Robert Peel was 
burnt at French creek as some retalia- 
tion of the Caroline massacre. No lives 
were taken or even threatened. This 
was just seven days after Mr. Steven- 
son, American minister in London, 
had demanded satisfaction for the Caro- 
line. To show how the act which 
Americans looked upon as nothing but 
a base butchery, was received on the 
other side, it may be said that Capt. 
Drew was raised to the rank of captain 
of the royal navy and commanded on 
Lake Erie. McNab was knighted and 
received royal thanks, and Sir John 
Colborne was created Lord Seaton. 

The Lewiston Telegraph of Friday, 
April 19, 1839, printed the following: 
"John Mosier, late a captain on Lake 
Ontario, and one of the murderers of 
Durfee, has presented a petition to the 
Upper Canadian Parliament praying 
that land be granted the boarders of 
ihe Caroline for a renumeration." Can- 
ada, perhaps, is the only country where 
murderers are recompensed. 



84. 

^be permit of [7i^S^^^« 



In the afternoon of the 18th of June, 
1823. a tall, well built and handsome 
young man, dressed in a long loose 
gown or cloak of a chocolate color, was 
seen passing through the principal 
street of the village of Niagara Falls. 
Ho had under his arm a roll of blankets, 
a flute, a port folio, and a large book; in 
his right hand he carried a small stick. 
He advanced towards the Eagle hotel, 
(which is now part of the International) 
attracting the gaze of visitors and others 
by the singularity of his appearance. 
With elastic stej) and animated motion, 
he passed the hotel; he heeded not the 
inquiring gaze of the idle multitude, 
but Arm and erect he bent his course to 
a more lowly, but respectable, inn. He 
at once entered into stipulations with 
the landlord that the room which he oc- 
cupied should be solely his own, that he 
Hliould have his table to himself, and 
that only certain portions of his fare 
Hhould be provided by the landlady. 
He made the usual enquiries about the 
falls, and, among other things, wished to 
know if there was a reading room or 
library in the village. Being informed 
that there was a library, he immediately 
repaired to the individual who kept it; 
deposited three dollars and took a book; 
purchased a violin; borrowed music 
books; informed the librarian that his 
name was Francis Abbott; that he should 
remain a few days at the Falls, and con- 
versed on many subjects with great 
ease and ability. 

The next day he returned to the same 
person and; expatiated largely upon the 



85. 



surrounding scenery, the cascades and 
cataracts, and all oi that sublime spec- 
tacle, the falls. In all his travels, he 
said, he had never met with anything to 
compare with this combination of all 
that was great and beautiful. There 
was nothing so grand as Niagara Falls, 
except Mount ^tna, during an 
eruption. 

He inquired how long travellers usual- 
ly remained, and being informed that 
many stayed only one day, he observed 
that he would stay at least a week, 
and further remarked; "Can it be 
that there are those who come to this 
place and leave it in one day ! I am as- 
tonished that persons can be found so lit- 
tle interested in these astonishing works 
of nature, as to spend so short a time in 
passing around and beholding them. 
As well might a traveller, in one or two 
days, attempt to examine in detail the 
various museums and curiosities in Par- 
is, as to think of becoming acquaint- 
ed with the magificeut scenery of Niag- 
ara in such a short space of time." 

In a few days he called again, and 
again expatiated upon the re8i)lendent 
scenery of the Falls, and said he had 
Cf included to remain a month, and per- 
haps six months. A short time after, 
he determined to fix his abode on Goat 
Island, and was desirous of erecting a 
rustic hut, for the purpose of abstracting 
himself from all society and of becom- 
ing a solitary hermit. The proprietor 
of the island, having become acquainted 
with his eccentricities, was apprehensive 
that his permanent residence there 
might be alarming to strangers who did 
not know him. For this reason he 
thought it not proper to allow him to 



86. 



erect a bniding for such a purpose, but 
permitted liim to occupy u room iu the 
oul}' house on the islaud. Iu this house 
there lived a family that furuished him 
at times with milk and bread. But he 
often dispensed with these necessary 
articles, providiuf? himself in such 
other ways as suited himself, and pre- 
l)aring his food to suit his own taste. 
He observed once to a friend "that 
people in their mode of living took a 
great deal of trouble and unnecessary 
pains; for my part I have adopted a 
method which I find very pleasant and 
agreeable. I take about a pint of water 
iu which I mix a sufficient quantity of 
wheat flour, to give it a proper consis- 
tency, and then drink it down. I find 
that it answers ever}^ purpose and saves 
me much labor and inconvenience. 

With his guitar by his side, support- 
ed from his shoulder with a silken sash 
like an eastern minstrel, he would per- 
ambulate the banks of the river to the 
Whirlpool and once or twice he extend- 
ed his walk to Lewiston. 

The inmates of the houses on the way 
would suddenly hear the sounds of 
strange and unknown music; the musi- 
cian would be observed standing at a 
distance in the road, but as soon as not- 
iced or spoken to he would glide away 
without giving any reply. 

The island was his permanent resi- 
dence for about one year and eight 
months. At length the family removed 
and to those few with whom he held 
converse, he expressed his great satis- 
faction to have it in his power to live 
entirely alone. For some months he 
seemed to enjoy himself very much, and 
until another family entered the house. 



87. 



He theu coDcludecl to erect a cottage of 
his own and as he could not build on 
the island he chose the hip:h bank near 
to and in full view of the fall, which of 
all other objects, it was his delijj;ht to 
behold. He ()ccni)ied his new residence 
for abont two inonths. 

On ^Friday, the 10th of June, 1831, 
he went twice below the bank oi the river 
to bathe and was seen to ^^o a third 
time. At two o'clock in the afternoon 
the ferryman saw him in the water — he 
partly iloatinij: i^^d ])artly restin<ic his 
body on the shelvin-:^ rocks. As the 
boat approached, to screen himself 
from the i?aze of the passenoi'ers, he 
would draw his head under the water. 
It was not seriously thou.i^-ht of as he 
had often been noticed in the same situ- 
ation, and acting in the same manner. 
When the ferry-man returned, Abbott's 
clothes were seen on the rocks, w'here 
he usuall}^ dei)osited them. An exami- 
nation was immediately made but his 
body could not be found. It was sup- 
posed to have been carried aw^ay by the 
current. 

"The greedy surg-e bad swept him down. 
Far, far from mortal ken." 

On the 21st of June the body was 
taken up at Fort Niagara, was clearly 
identified, and was on the next dny 
removed and decently interred in the 
burial ground at Niagara Falls from 
which place it has since been removed 
to Oakwood Cemetery and a fine tomb- 
stone erected to his memory. He and 
Captain Webb now sleep side by 
side. 

Thus terminated the career of Francis 
Abbott. Little, indeed, known to those 
near whom he spent the last two years 



88. 



of his life. A few gleanings can only be 
given. He was an English gentleman 
of a respectable family. He was en- 
dowed with a good mind, highly culti- 
vated and was pleasing in his manners. 
He was not only master of several 
languages, but deeply read in the arts 
and sciences and possessed of all the 
minor accomplishments of the finished 
gentleman, fascinating colloquial pow- 
ers, and music and drawing in great 
perfection. 

Many years of his life had been spent 
in travelling. He had visited Egypt 
and Palestine; had travelled through 
Turkey and Greece, Italy, Spain, Por- 
tugal and France, and had resided for 
considerable periods of time m Naples, 
Rome and Paris. While at Niagara 
Falls business brought him in contact 
with several inhabitants. W ith a few of 
them he would sometimes be sociable; 
to all others he was distant and reserv- 
ed. His conversations were always 
interesting and his descriptions of 
countries and people glowing and ani- 
mated. But at times, even with his 
favored acquaintances, he would hold no 
conversation; but communicated to 
them his wishes on a slate and would re- 
quest that nothing should be said to him. 
He would frequently go unshaved for 
two or three months, often with no 
covering on his head and his body envel- 
oped in a blanket; shunning all and 
seeking the deepest solitude of the 
island. He composed much and gener- 
ally in Latin; but he destroyed his 
composition almost as fast as he pro- 
duced them. When his little cot was 
examined hopes were entertained that 
some manuscript or memorial, of his 



89. 



own composition, might be foiiDcI, but 
lie left nothiug of the kind. His faithful 
dot? guarded iiis door, and it was with 
difficulty that he was persuaded aside 
while it w 18 opened. His cat occupied 
his bed and his guitar, violin, flutes and 
music were scatteredabout inconfusion. 
There Wc\s a portfolio and the leaves of 
a large book, but not a word, not even 
his name was written in anj' of them. 

Many spots of Goat Island are conse- 
crated to the memory of Francis Abbott. 
On the upper end of the island he had 
established his walk and it had be- 
come trodden and well beaten like that 
on which a sentinel performs his tour 
of duty. Between Goat and Moss 
Islands there was embowered, in seclu- 
sion and shade, one of the most charming 
waterfalls or cascades imaginable. This 
was his favorite retreat for bathing. 
There he resorted at all times of the 
year. In the coldest of weather, even 
when snow was on the ground, and ice 
in the water; he continued to bathe in 
the Niagara. 

On the lower extremity of the island 
there is a bridge leading over what are 
called the Terrapin Rocks and from this 
bridge there extended a single piece 
of timber, some twelve or fifteen 
feet over the precipice. On this 
it was his daily practice to walk; with a 
quick step he would pass the bridge, 
advance on the timber to the extreme 
end. turn quickly on his heel and walk 
back, and continue thus to walk for 
hours. Sometimes he would let himself 
down at the end of the timber and hang 
under it by his liands and feet for 15 or 
20 minutes at a time and this over a 
chasm so terrific as to make dizzy the 



90. 



strongest bead. On being remonstrat- 
ed witb for thus exposing biinself, be 
would reply tbat in crossing the ocean 
he bad frequently seen tbe sea- boy in 
mucb greater peril. and as be 
should probably cross tbe ocean again 
be wished to inure himself to such dan- 
gers; if the nerves of others were dis- 
turbed, bis were not. In the darkest 
hours of the night he would be found 
walking alone in tbe wildest and most 
dangerous spots near tbe Falls. At such 
times he would slum tbe approach of 
men as if they were unwelcome intrud- 
ers on bis solitude. 

He had a stipend, allowed to him by 
his friends in England, competent for 
liis support. He attended to tbe state 
of his accounts very carefully; was 
economical in the expenditure of money 
for bis own use; but generous in paying 
for all favors and services, and never 
receiving anything without making 
immediate payment therefore. He had 
a deep and abiding sense of religious 
duties and decorum; mild in his behav- 
ior and inoffensive in his conduct. 
Religion was a subject he appreciated, 
and seemed well to understand. The 
charity he asked from others be extend- 
ed to all mankind. 

What could have broken up 
and .destroyed such a mind as bis ? 
What would drive him from 
society, which be was so well fitted 
to adorn— and what should transform 
bim, noble in i)erson and intellect into 
an isolated anchorite, shunning the as- 
sociations of bis fellow-men. The 
mystery he never unfolded, and his 
friends have remained silent on the sub- 



91. 



ject. He was about 28 years of acre at 
the time of his death. 

With the scenery of the Falls he was 
perfectly infatuated and expressed him- 
self in the most rapturous terms, when 
he spoke of the beautiful retreats of 
Goat Island. He was asked why he 
did not take up his residence in Canada, 
under his own government, among his 
own people, and, as he preferred being 
near the falls, he conld there select a 
place to suit him, as the views on that 
side were considered by many as being 
the best. He replied that he' preferred 
this side, because, in all that was inter- 
esting and beautiful, the American 
scenes around the falls were decidedly 
superior. 



H^uery on the Cog. 



On the evening of July 18, 1853, a man 
by the name of Hanniman and one by 
the name of Avery, in the employ of 
David Brown, who was engaged in 
boating sand, left the French laudino- 
(now called Port Day,) for Schlosser 
where the boat, upon which they were 
employed, was lying. But for some 
reason they failed to reach their point, 
and were carried out into the strou^^ 
current and down into the rapids! 
Hanniman was immediately carried 
over the Falls, but Avery lodged on a 
log, nearly midway between Goat Is- 
land bridge and the fearful precipice, 
it being the only place in that portion of 



92. 



the rapids upon wbicli a human being 
could find footing. The fearful truth of 
a man being in the rapids just above 
the verge of the Falls was first discov- 
ered at about four o'clock on the morn- 
ing of July 19th by one of the wa-tch- 
men of the Cataract House. The fear- 
ful intelligence spread like a fire alarm 
throughout the village. Ropes were 
the first thing thought of— no rope on 
hand. Messrs. Gage & Haws, con- 
tractors on the hydraulic canal, stripped 
the rigging from their blocks and gin 
poles. Citizens owning or having in 
their possession a pound of rope 
brought it forward. 

Boats owned by rich and poor were 
soon being borne on the shoulders of 
the multitude to the spot, as an offering 
of humanity, without a thought of rein- 
bursement. Thus four boats and all 
the rope in the village were made a free- 
will ofifering by the owners to attempt 
the deliverance of an unknown stran- 
ger, but a human being, from a situa- 
tion as perilous as the human mind can 
conceive. A telegraph dispatch to Buf- 
falo promptly brought a boat to the 
spot, the owner not giving the probabil- 
ities of remuneration a thought. 

Thousands of persons crowded around 
the scene, each having a plan to which 
no one heeds but himself. Nothing, 
absolutely nothing, could be done in 
this chaotic state. A meeting is pro- 
posed on Goat Island bridge by two of 
the proprietors, to give direction to the 
efforts about to be made. A vote is 
taken, and a man is appointed by ac- 
clamation, who selects his assistants. 



93. 



A generous hearted captain from the 
upper lakes, having heard of the acci- 
dent at Buffalo hastened down to the 
scene of action. He was invited to par- 
ticipate in giving direction to the efforts 
about to be made— he was prompt and 
efficient. The boat experiment fails — 
another plan is proposed which is 
thought feasable— this failed also except 
to give a knowledge of the currents and 
the action of water through the differ- 
ent channels— another plan is proposed 
— ropes were with the life boat — three 
hundred men man the line attached to 
the life boat sunken in the rapids— the 
line parts near the sunken boat and was 
fortunately brought to shore— the raft is 
completed and let down into the boiling 
element from the center of the bridge 
— (^a noble hearted sea captain, a stran- 
ger, with a soul stamped with generos- 
ity, took one of the managers by the 
shoulders, and in a whisper, begged for 
God's sake to let him go down on the 
raft and help the man keep the ropes 
clear, and on being refused he replied: 
"I know I could help him," Generous 
hearted man ! would that the world 
knew thy name— the orignal design of 
the raft is thwarted by one rope being 
too short to reach the spot, it slips the 
grasp of those holding it— the raft 
swings on a line with the remaining 
rope and bounds down and below the 
fatal cliff that seemed to stand between 
life and death — no more rope at hand — 
nothing daunted the capstan moves on, 
the raft swings to the embrace of the 
unfortunate— he reaches the raft and 
entwines himself among its ropes. He 
gazes at the pail of provisions lashed to 
the raft— he cannot eat, he sees nothing 



94. 



but death before him. The raft moves 
slowly sidewise, under the reef to an 
almost inaccessible island. The rope 
becomes entangled among the rocks. 
What now shall be done ? Lower away 
the raft, now haul her np, now lower 
her down, the capstan moves tlje pon- 
derous weight up and down at bidding, 
a little lower the raft descends into the 
swift current, the surges dash over the 
head of the unfortunate passenger. The 
capstan turns rapidly around, the raft 
is again moved under the ledge in 
smoother water, although the surges 
had almost claimed their victim— the 
unfortunate looses his lashing, stands 
erect and rests his limbs which had 
been stripped of their covering by the 
boiling current. When sufficiently 
recovered he again takes his seat and 
makes himself fast, again the capstan 
heaves, alas, the rope is again fast in the 
rocks and cannot be moved except up 
and down the stream, again the capstan 
turns, the raft is brought close to the 
perpendicular clifi" with sufficient force 
to lift the the stern free from the water. 
The rapids dash over the bow of the 
raft and fall harmless in front of the 
sorrow-stricken. What shall now be 
done ? The rot)e is still fast, the sun is 
fading in the western horizon and the 
sable mantle of night will soon veil the 
scene. Shall this man be left to spend 
another gloomy night in the arms of 
death? Another attempt must be made, 
again the lightning flashes to Buffalo— a 
boat wanted. A boat is furnished and 
the railroad agent promptly placed the 
same upon the cars. The engineer 
taxes the speed of his engine to its ut- 
most capacity, as human life might 



95. 



dei)end upon the arrival of the cars, in 
the shortest possible time— the cars 
arrive— ere the speed of the cars is 
arrested, the crowd bear the boat upon 
their shoulders to the scene of peril- 
all with one thouj^ht, the res- 
cue. ISo there is yet hope that the 
rescue may be accompliished before 
nightfall. Again another call is made 
for roi)e; another tackle block is found 
and stripped; the boat lowered into the 
stream, carefully the rope slides out 
from the capstan, until she reaches the 
fearful clitT, a surge strikes the boot, 
she almost poises over the cascade; the 
rope stretches but little and that little 
loses her over the cliff, and forces a 
plank from her side, the affrighted man 
has unloosed his lashings and is stand- 
ing up— the boat strikes the raft— the 
concussion throws him off and he is seen 
tottering from time into eternity. A 
wail is heard from the lips of the thous- 
ands of anxious spectators; some run to 
the brink of the precipice to witness the 
last struggle. Ladies swoon and drop 
like soldiers on a battle field; the multi- 
tude heave a sigh and turn their faces 
homeward, few having tasted food since 
the dawn of day. 

The following article was written to 
the Albany Register: 

NiAGAB4 Falls, July, 19, 1853. 
It is verging toward midnight 
on the 18th of July, 1853, and the stars 
shine calmly down through a delicious 
atmosphere, upon tne village of Niagara 
Falls. Music gives life to the joyous 
dance at the Cataract and the Interna- 
tional Hotels, and pleasure seekers here, 
congregated from all parts of the couti- 



96. 



nout, have found enjoyment. Many 
fair women and brave men still 
linger on Goat Island, uuwillino;' to 
sever from scenes and sounds so full of 
harmony — so coiigenial to the pure ac- 
tivity of soul, which marks alike the 
worshiper of God and the bemu" who 
sins lightly, if at all, by indulging in 
dreams of earthly love and honor. One 
plighted coui)le are returning, and have 
halted for a moment on the bridge, the 
hand of each clasped in each other's, as 
they look upward on the rapids. A thin 
cloud is drawn for a few moments over 
the resplendent stars, like the dropping 
of a bridal veil, and the shadow rests 
on the arrowy foam of the furious 
river. And they whisper of approach- 
ing union, and the years of happiness 
which they doubt not the good God has 
in store for them that love Him so. 
J3ut what was that dark object w^hich so 
suddenly sprung into view on the very 
verge of the horizon above them, as 
though swung heavenward by a huge 
wave ? He says it was but a taller, 
shadowed pitch of the wild waters or a 
fioatiug log. What shook the bridge 
then, and did you not hear a shreik, 
faint and smothered, as though it came 
from a cavern deep in the earth ? Oh 
no! It was but the strong blow of a 
eddying whirl of the fierce river which 
made the bridge tremble a very little 
more than it usually trembles; and if 
you heard aery, it was but the near 
shreik of some high-wheeling night 
bird. There can be no misery near us 
in a place, and at a time like this, where 
all is so calm but the great river exult- 
ing in its strength, and where we can 
almo.st see God's good angels, half uu- 



97. 



sphered, watching th« world. The 
^anzy cloud floats westward, and the 
stars'^shiue out in glory, and the loyers 
walk blissfully on and cross the bridge 
and Heaven blesses them in dreams that 
night, while the music of the joyous 
dancers below sounds in their visions 
a harmony of heaven. 

Jiut it was no dead tree trunk, nor 
single lifted, cloud shadowed wave, that 
caught for a single second that gentle 
maiden's eye. It was a boat and in it 
were two men— around each were twined 
loves as deep, if not so exalted and 
pure, as those which hallow end beauti- 
fy her and her's. It was not a strong 
swirl of the wild waters that made the 
firm bridge tremble a little more than it 
always trembles in the strong current. 
It was the crashing, like an eggshell, of 
the stroug-built boat when it dashed 
against the pier and whirled under the 
l)ridge in fragments. It was not the 
scream of a night-bird, whirling in the 
dusky air above her, which startled the 
soft-hearted maiden ; but was the con- 
jofned agonies of two strong-lunged, 
despairing men, which burst forth into 
a yell, which was all but drowned in the 
deep roar of the majestic river, and 
came as but in a whisper to the ear 
of the tender maiden, who was intently 
listening, scarce two hundred feet away. 
One of the strong men is carried 
downward, unseen save by God and the 
starry eyes of night. Fifteen hundred 
or two thousand feet are but as a step 
for the great torrent, though if they 
lived until they reached the verge of 
the fall, Heaven only knows how much 
misery was endured, or how surely hope 
eternal and well-founded sprung up in 



98. 



his soul, while the wrathful river took 
that step ere she dashed him ou the 
pile of rocks one luiudred and fifty feet 
below and broke forever the li<2:atures of 
hope and love that bound him to the 
world. 

But for the second ! Far better 
would it have been, in human judgment, 
had he too been swept away at once 
into eternity. But not so, for there are 
many lessons to be drawn from the 
troubled remnant of his life— at least l)y 
those who witnessed it. 

About 500 feet below the bridge, and 
about one-third of the way across from 
the main shore, a log is embedded in 
the rapids. It lies in the direction of 
the torrent, and at the lower end, for a 
length of about fifteen feet rises above 
water, then seems to sink a little, lilie 
the hollow of a saddle, and is below wat- 
er for a foot or two and then rises at an 
angle of about forty-live degrees for 
four or live feet and so ends abruptly. 
At about four o'clock in the morning 
the survivor, a lusty man of twenty 
summers or thereabouts, was discover- 
ed clinging to the upper part of the log. 
and at once the village was astir. It was a 
strange chance that threw him on this 
mere point— the only one between the 
bridge and fall where the foot of man 
could rest. It would seem that Provi- 
dence, by so miraculous an interposi- 
tion for his present safety, grave assur- 
ance for his final rescue. But God 
knows best, and the world would be a 
chaos were not the issue of our efforts 
by Him directed. We have only our 
duties before us and He will take care 
of results. 



99. 



What fascination there is in the peril 
of another, though he be a stranger, and 
whatever may be his rank in life, his 
attainments or his qualities. 

What a pity it is that the peril which 
so fascinates us, and nerves us up to 
deeds of heroism, and sacrifices of 
money, and property, and comfort, 
must, in the general, be an apparent 
peril of life or limb. Those slow and 
deadly dangers which besets our 
neighbors and ourselves, those parents 
of crime, which aims at the destruction 
of physical vigor and moral purity, 
which contaminate life in the fountain 
wither it in maturity, which create the 
drunkard, the libertine, the robber, and 
the murderer, alas ! they fright but few 
of us, but we put not on our armor to 
battle against them unto the death. 

I could hardly take my eyea from 
that poor man from the first time I saw 
him until nis fate was decided. There 
were hundreds there, who would cheer- 
fully imperiled their own lives, could 
reason have been cajoled into holding 
out the slightest hope of the risks con- 
tributing to this salvation of the strang- 
er. Property was sacrificed without 
hesitation, for him, and one kind gentle- 
man, a stranger, from— the Lord knows 
where, but may he be remembered in 
Heaven— offered a thousand dollars to 
save the stranger. 

When I first saw him in the morning 
he was clinging to the log and occasion- 
ally raising his head above the top and 
looking from side to side. He must 
have realized fully the almost hopeless 
danger of his situation, and was sick at 
heart, as well as chilled by the night 
air, and the spray sapping his strength 



100. 

for so mauy slow ebbiii;^ hours. His 
Lead was bare, but otherwise he was 
I'ally clothed. It wasimi)ossible for the 
huiuau voice to reach him. No voice of 
encoiiragemeut to reach him, but the 
sympathizing spirit of the people was 
not discouraged, and sought to uphold 
him by sigus. He was a Germau aud 
some kind persou caused to be painted 
in big letters, in Germau, on canvas, the 
words, "We will save you," and nailed 
it, like a banner, on the front of a build- 
ing on the bank. He saw and under- 
stood it, and waved his hands, in grati- 
tude, we trust, in gratitude. The peo- 
ple, full of s^^nipathy, thronged the 
shore, both island and bridge. Alas! 
they could do nothing, unless it were 
by their mere presence, to encourage 
hope and strengthen his sometimes fail- 
ing courage. 

It is painful to record the efforts that 
were made for his relief and extrication 
aud yet a summary of them may not be 
devoid of interest. In doinj? so it is 
necessary to recall his position in the 
torrent. All above was a wild waste 
of water, rushing downward over 
curved ledges of rock crossing awthart 
the stream, and so was all below, save 
that the log to which he clung was im- 
bedded in a basin of foaming water 
between two ledges, and the water there 
seemed less unquiet. From the ledges 
above the fall was more than a foot. 
On his left the great mass of the river 
came down in a tumult of green waves 
and eddies, on his right lay first the 
foaming basin, the strong current of a 
minor channel of the river, and then 
broken water and an eddy, at the foot 
of which was a small mass of rocks 



101. 

above water and blackeued logs, 
from which access to a small 
wooded island below seemed easy. 
Ou that islaud he would 

be safe, for it could be reached, thoujrh 
Avith much difficulty, from Goat or Bath 
Islaud, in a boat. To cross the furious 
ciiaunel on his left to the main shore 
was impossible. 

There he laj^ from the time he was 
discovered, until, I should think, about 
half-past four in the afternoon, the sun 
beating on his uncovered head, and 
without food. Attempts were made to 
lower food to him from the bridge, the 
food being enclosed at one time in a 
basket, and at least twice in air-tight tin 
cans, but all these attempts were unsuc- 
cessful. How he endured all he did 
seems strange to me. Grod had certain- 
ly given him a strong frame and a stout 
heart and he would have made a gallant 
sailor. 

At nine o'clock the first attempt at 
rescue was made. No one had any 
confidence in it, but people were impa- 
tient to do something, though a message 
had been dispatched to Buffalo for a 
life-boat, which was expected on the 
next train. A strong light skiff was 
launched from Bath Island, drawn 
out into the stream, and let down by 
two ropes in the lesser channel. Bhe 
filled and upset, however, and was 
lost. 

But here comes the life-boat from 
Buffalo, and the crowd sent up a cheer 
which rises to Heaven, and even crosses 
to the poor man on the log, and he 
erects himself in expectation. It is 
borne across the bridge, and the 
gentleman having it in charge examines 



102. 

from different points on the bank and 
the bridge, the obstacles to be over- 
come. It is almost evident that they 
are insuperable, but there is a bare pos- 
sibility of success, audthat is sufficient. 
The boat is launched, and the bridge is 
cleared of all but the workers, and she is 
gradually lowered. What a beautiful 
boat she is, and how triumphantly she 
rides the wild swells ! Now she passes 
down the main shute, and they begin to 
work her toward the log, while the man 
hangs with his hands on the top of it, 
his eyes devouring the space be- 
tween himself, and what he trusts, is his 
preserver. And, indeed, there would 
seem scarce room to doubt that he was 
on the point of being: rescued. But 
now the boat from the entangling of the 
rope in the rocks below, or from some 
other cause, upsets, and then she rises 
like a duck — and now she is just 
a little above the log, and in a second 
more the man will be safe. My God ! 
she swings a little beyond, in a swift 
eddy, and does not right again. I shut 
my eyes, and when I open them again, 
she is far off in the broad channel by 
the main shore, held by a single rope 
and almost sunk by the weight and force 
of the current. The man, the poor 
man, who but just now was waving his 
hands this way and that way to guide 
the people in the management of the 
ropes, and who, I could swear, from the 
motion of his head, shouted with joy as 
the boat neared him, was now clasping 
the upright portion of the log. 
His head droops, and despair, I fear, 
is in his heart, and so he lies, inanimate 
on the thing he rests on, for fully an 
hour. 



103. 



But the good people are not discour- 
aged; they now commence building a 
raft. It is made of two long square 
timbers, with a platform firmly spiked 
on at one end, and occasional cross- 
pieces to the other end, on which is lash- 
ed a barrel. While this is being done a 
crowd of men bring upon poles on 
their shoulders a large broad-beamed 
skiff. It is concluded to try this before 
the raft,and it is launched from Bath Is- 
land, let down the channel and worked 
across stream to the log. Thank God, 
the man is safe now ! This boat has 
worked admirably, and he is safe ! 
Alas ! the rope has, somehow or other, 
got entangled with the log, and though 
her prow lies on the left and at the very 
stem of the log, she cannot be moved a 
foot. The man has been all attention, 
for some time. He crawls along the 
log and tries to move the boat. He can- 
not stir it. He crawls in and bales out 
some of the water with his hands, and 
then pushes the log. He gets upon the 
log and pushes the boat. Again he 
gets into the boat and bales with his 
hands. He then takes off both boots 
and bales with one of them. He puts 
on his boots and taking off his coat, 
folds it and lays it in the bow of the boat. 
He gets upon the log, and walks to the 
further end, lies down upon it, and 
thrusts his arm into the water. He gets 
the rope, and pulls with all his might, 
and then goes to the boat and pushes it. 
And so he works,— how long it seemed 
to me!— sometimes in one place and 
sometimes in the other, and continually 
in vain. How I longed for a voice to 
tell him to keep still, and to husband 
his strength, the whole of which might 



104. 

yet be requisite to save liim. But now 
be despairs a^faiu. God does seem to 
have declared against him ! But now, 
after a long interval, they are shooting 
the raft over the rail of the bridge. 
They have launched it and down it 
floats. Now it is in the swift current, 
and the barrel disappears in the over- 
charging foam. But it holds together 
nobly, and passes the shell, and is 
drawn safely to the log. The man, so 
long confined there, I am sure, gives a 
cheer. He sits down on the plat- 
form, and fixes his feet in and takes 
hold of stays and loops fixed to the 
floor of the raft, and they begin to 
haul on the ropes. This ^ must have 
been between four and five o'clock. 
For a full hour, as it seemed to me, 
they endeavored to draw the raft di- 
rectly up the stream, but to drag it up 
the first fall or ledge was impossible— 
but still they pulled with a will and now 
the raft fell back suddenly and swiftly; 
surely the ropes must have parted, and 
a perceptable shudder runs through the 
mass of men around me. Bo, too, 
thinks the man. for he stands upon his 
feet, and with a hurried glance around 
him, stands prepared to jump and swim 
for his life; but he is instantly reassured, 
and calmly resumes his seat, for they 
had merel}' slackened the ropes prepar- 
atory to trying to guide the raft to the 
right or island shore. They do guide it 
successfully— slowly, but steadily, it 
swims far away from the log, and the 
man sits there like a statue. He 
lies upon the raft with his 
head drooping, as thougb half 
slumbering, and then raises it with a 
start, like one contending with sleep or 
exhaustion. And now the raft is ou the 



105. 



ed<re, m the ragiu^ torrent, the water 
arches over the barrel in front-the 
ratt IS pressed down-aud he is waist 
deep. i he waves force him backward 
and rush up to his mouth, and he will 
be drowned; but now, with a mighty 
effort, he bows forward with his head 
under water, draws out his feet and 
throws them backwards so that he is 
kneehnoj, holdin- on with his hands, 
and with head erect. Again the raft 
slides to the left, out or' the swiftest 
water; and there she lies so long I 
What IS the matter now? Alas! the 
rope has caught in a ledge of rock above 
vl'l TT. "^V"" «<^"ti-ivance must be 
deterred, yes, almost crushed. 

-Kut It IS now nearly six o'clock, and 
the large ferry boat is put in the water, 
t^..r f 1 ^"^.^"erienced say, it must be 
easy to lay her alongside the raft. We 
?h««nl«^^P^ rekindle in the bosom of 
^otn^T""- C^?f«% the boat is let 

moTf fn,f /' "?^'^^ *^^''^- '^^^ ^oat al- 
most touches the raft, and the man 
rises ready to step in. 'But, my God^ 
the force of the current dashes her 

the water ! Strike out for your life t 
Cross but one rod of stormy water and 
fSntlfL!?*"- >I^«-'> swims bul 

backward, and a dark spot is seen hur- 
rying toward the fall. Ashe reaches 
vi\Jcff^^' Ti^ ^ spasmodic effort he 
laises breast high from the water, and 
the poor sufferer whom we have watch 

earth kI'T"-^-^ ^u"- ^^ ^^^'^ «^ 
earth He has joined his companion, 

them ^^ ''^'' ^^^^ "^^"^-^ "P«^ 



106. 

This melancholy affair may be sum- 
med up in a few words: If the unfortu- 
nate man had not loosened his fasten- 
ings to the raft on the approach of the 
boat, and if his strength had been suffi- 
cient to endure the fatigue of another 
ten hours on the raft, (as nothing couhl 
be done for him in the darkness of the 
night.) in all probability he might have 
been brought to Chapin's Island the 
following day, from which his rescue 
would have been comparatively easy. 

The body of the unfortunate Hanni- 
man was found on the following Satur- 
day, July 23rd, near Suspension Bridge, 
and decently interred by Mr. Sternes, 
the town poor master. The body of 
Avery was never recovered. 



Pierce's H^^^^ I^rigade. 



At the junction of the Portage Boad 
with Main Street in this city, there was 
a public house for many years, which, 
during the War of 1812, was kept by a 
man named Gad Pierce, who was an 
active frontier partisan. When hostili- 
ties commenced between the two coun- 
tries, there was a very small number 
of troops on the American side of the 
river, and only a single company to 
garrison Fort Niagara. It was expect- 
ed, every night, that the Fort would be 
attacked by the British, who had a large 
force of men at Fort George. Mr. 
Pierce, aware of this state of affairs, one 
day raised all the inhabitants in the 



107. 

surroundiufr couDtry, and bad them 
assemble at Lewiston. Horses of every 
kind were brought into requisition, and, 
when the citizens were mounted, they 
appeared at a distance like a formidable 
troop of cavalry. Among them, too, 
were several of the Tuscarora Indians, 
who entered with spirit into the man- 
euver. Instead of swords, they used 
walking canes, sticks and ramrods. 
Several of the ramrods were of polished 
steel or iron, which made a very bright 
and flashy appearance. The cavalcade 
moved from Lewiston, along the river 
road, in sight of the enemy, and enter- 
ed Fort Niagara. The blankets of the 
Indians fluttering in the wind, the 
various habiliments of the farmers, the 
limping and over-strained plow horse, 
the nibbling gait and twitching head of 
the wild pony, with now and then a 
noble looking horse, formed, to those 
who were near, a most ludicrous spec-- 
tacJe. In the fort, they dismounted, 
and performed some slight evolutions 
in a most laughable manner. At the 
command to mount, some of the Indians 
executed the order in such a masterly 
way as to throw themselves entirely 
over their ponies. To the British, the 
imposing appearance of the troops with 
their steel ramrods, which glittered in 
the sun like broadswords, had the desir- 
ed effect : the contemj)lated attack was 
not made. 

At the time of the general invasion of 
the frontier, Mr. Pierce had his family 
removed to a place of safety, but would 
not himself quit the premises. He and 
four others formed the little garrison, 
with which he determined to defend 
his home. They waited for the 



108. 



av)proach of the enemy. At length a 
company of British regulars appeared 
and a fire was opened upon them. They 
continued the defence for some time, 
but, as their opponents were numerous, 
it was impossible to keep them at a dis- 
tance. A part advanced upon the front 
of the house, and succeeded in break- 
ing down the door, tiring their guns as 
they entered. The defenders effected 
their escape in an opposite direction 
without any of their number being 
wounded. Whether the attacking party 
suffered any loss was not known. 



J(,n Indian p^^duenture. 



Just below the mountain and to the 
right of the road which descends from 
the Tuscarora village, there lived a man 
by the name of Sparrow Sage, 
who was driven away from his home, 
on the 19th of December, 1813, during 
the invasion of the Niagara Frontier by 
the British. But, for the purpose of 
securing his harvest, he and his wife 
returned the following summer to their 
exposed and solitary dwelling. One 
day. while Mr. Sage was at work in a 
field some distance from the house, an 
Indian, attached to the British cause, 
entered the house and demanded some- 
thing to eat, speaking in broken 
English. Mrs. Sage, being entirely 
alone, immediately obeyed his bidding, 
in hopes that after eating he would go 
away. But in this she was disappointed. 



109. 



for as soon as he had finished his repast 
he informed her that he lived at GrLnd 
Kiver, Canada, and that he had come af- 
ter her to ^o with him as his squaw. She 
rephed hat it could not be, as she 
already had a husband. " No ' not "he 
vnf ' -^ f^claimed, "you very pretty; 
you must be my squaw; you shall ^o "' 
In vam she told him that her husband 
and others were near by and that he 

mH' T^^ ^"^^^" t^«^ took down 
nnf'^f 1^^ ? gun and,finding it unloaded, 
1 It It back a-ain, He then ransacked 
the house, commanding Mrs. Sage not 
to leave his sight, at the same time 

muTR V' ^^^1 ?P^^ ^^'- He took as 
much as he could carry of such thin-s 
as he mostly desired, and, seizing Mrf 
Sage forcibly by the arm, he dragged 
her out of the back door and tfelce 
towards the woods, in the' direction of 

thP RHl'5*''^Vrf *H^*^ */°^^ occupied by 
the British. The husband hearing the 
screams of his wife, hurried to^aldl 
the house, seized an ax which was lying 
at the door and followed in pursuit 
He came up to them at a fence, on the 
border of the forest. Not letting go his 
hold the savage fired at Mr. Sa-e as he 
ban '^"^r't f^"°J^ ^"^' luckily the 
Indian was raising his victim to throw 
brnl.«T-*^-^«^^°^1'^blow from the ax 
broke his nfie and made him let go of 
Mrs Sage. Hastily consulting his own 
safety he leaped over the f?nce, b^t 
while doing so he received another blow 
from the ax The forest resounded with 
his yells, as he made off with all possible 
speed into, the thick woods. Mr. SaJe 
did not think it proper to pursue, bit 



110. 



returning with his wife, the}'- immedi- 
ately left their dangerous habitation 
for a place of safety. 

Mr. William Molyneaux, the father of 
Mrs. Sage, had occupied the same resi- 
dence the winter before, but he and his 
family were also compelled to llee to a 
place of safety. About a month after 
he returned, and, upon entering the 
house, he found two dead Indiana lying 
upon the floor. A party of American 
soldiers had come upon them unex- 
pectedly, while they were carousing 
upon the good fare which the occupants 
had left. They were, no doubt, abroad 
for murder and destruction, and met 
the fate which they intended for others. 
Mr. Molyneaux dragged their bodies 
from the house, and as he had no aid 
nor time to bury them, he formed around 
them a large pile of logs and rails, and, 
setting fire to it, they w^ere con- 
sumed. The British Indians consider- 
ed it quite an affront, and threatened 
vengeance, but it was an empty threat, 
as they had already done all the harm 
they could. 



Jt fjarrow gscape, 



It was in the early morning, on the 
19th of December, 1813, the weather 
being cold, and the bleak winds howl- 
ing, when the inhabitants oi Lewiston 
were aroused from their quiet slumbers 
and compelled to leave their comforta- 
ble homes and flee from a cruel and re- 



Hi. 

lentless foe, wlio had juat crossed the 
river, and was spreading death and 
desolation all alouoj the border. The 
roads had been badly broken up, and 
were frozen in a state that it was impos- 
sible to proceed with waj^ons, and, there 
beinpT little snow, only slow progress 
could be made with sleighs. In the rear 
of the fugitives, who were hastening 
with all possible speed along the Kidge 
Road, was a two-horse sleigh, driven by 
a young man who walked beside his 
horses. In the sleigh lay his brother, 
who one week before had his leg ampu- 
tated just below the knee. He was in a 
very feeble condition, and to proceed 
rapidly, rough as the roads then were, 
would have been death to him. 

Although the enemy was not far in 
the rear, there was no alternative but to 
continue the moderate pace at which 
they were moving. The driver, who 
was armed with a trusty rifle, would 
frequently cast anxious glances behind 
him, knowing that the eneifiy was not 
far in the rear. At length the war-whoop 
of the British Indians, with its accom- 
panying yells, broke upon his ears. 
The disabled brother besought the 
other to leave him to his fate and flee 
for his life. " No," he replied, "if we 
are to die, we will perish together." 
The party of Indians that pursued them 
was in full sight and one, far in advance 
of the others, called upon them to stop, 
making threatening gestures, and 
raising his rifle as if to shoot. 

With the same slow pace the horses 
proceeded, and the driver was coolly 
collecting himself for the conflict, in 
which such fearful odds were against 
him. The Indian sprang forward and 



112. 

was within a few paces of the sleigh, 
when the yonug man, suddenly 
turning himself, quickly raised his rifle 
and fired upmi his pursuer, who fell 
forward a corpse, his body rolling out 
of the road. A yell of vengeance, from 
the band in the rear, came like a knell of 
death upon the ears of the brothers. At 
that moment a band of friendly Tusca- 
roras were seen descending the adjacent 
hill, and the well directed lire which 
they t)pened on the British Indians, 
obliged the latter to hastily retire. 

The driver of the sleigh was the late 
Hon. Bates Cook, and the invalid was 
the late Latlirop Cook, names that have 
been familiar household words for many 
years. 



♦- 



G^P^- W®^t>'s l^ast Swim. 



Capt. Matthew Webb, the famous 
English swimmer, made the attempt to 
swim through the Kapids aud Whirl- 
pool of Niagara River on the afternoon 
of July 24th, 1883, and lost his life in 
the effort. As he had publicly announc- 
ed he would do, Capt. Webb left the 
Clifton House, on the Canada side, at 4 
o'clock, and proceeded down the bank 
to the ferry landing. Here he stepped 
into a small boat manned by Jack Mc- 
Cloy, ferryman, and was rowed down the 
river to opposite the old Pleasure 
Grounds, just above the old Maid of 
the Mist landing. At 4.25 he jumped 
from the boat into the river. A mo- 



113. 

ment later he rose gracefully to the sur- 
face aud, swimmina: with infinite ease 
and power, struck boldly out. He clear- 
ed the water with strong and steady 
strokes, swimming on his breast with 
his head clear from the surface. He 
kept in the centre of the stream and the 
strong eddies which occasionally swirl- 
ed past him seemed in no way to im- 
pede or swerve him from his course. As 
he api)roached the Railway Suspension 
Bridge, which he passed at 5.33, the flow 
of the current increased with remark- 
able rapidity. There were about two 
hundred spectators on the bridge who 
saw the intrepid swimmer glide towards 
them, pass beneath them, and ere they 
could reach the north side of the struc- 
ture, he was fifty yards down the cur- 
rent. He was carried along as fast as 
the eye could follow him. With speech- 
less wonder and fear he was seen to 
reach the first furious billows of the 
rapids. Onward he sped like a feather 
in the sea. High on the crest of a huge 
billow his head and shoulders gleamed 
for an instant and then he was lost in a 
dark abyss of turmoiling water. Again 
he appeared, his arms steadily moving 
as if balancing himself for a plunge into 
another mighty wave. The tumbling, 
rushing, swirling element seemed to 
give forth an angry, sullen roar as if 
sounding the death knell of the ill-fated 
swimmer. Once more away down the 
Rapids he was seen still apparently brav- 
ing fate and stemming the seething 
waters with marvelous skill and endur- 
ance. Instead of being whirled hither 
and thither as might have been expect- 
ed he was carried with furious rapidity 
onward almost in a straight course. 



114. 

For neailj'^ a mile he was hiirn'ecl for- 
ward by the tumultuous rushinor waters 
aud still he seemed to be riding tbe aw- 
ful billows in safety. In two minutes 
after he had passed under the Suspen- 
sion Bridge he had been hurried 
through the terrible Kapids and arrived 
at the mouth of the great Whirlpool. 
Reaching what seemed to bo less 
troubled and dangerous waters, it was 
said by some, that he raised his head 
well above the surface, gazed for an 
instant towards the American side and 
then turned his face to the high bluff 
on the Canadian side. A second later 
he dived or sank aud was seen no more. 
But Mr. Culhane, of the Canadian cus- 
toms force, who was at the inclined rail- 
way near the Whirpool, when Webb 
came down the river, with a couple of 
boys aud some ladies, says that he and 
his party saw Webb distinctly for a 
minute before he reached the Whirl- 
pool, and they were confident that he 
was either dead or insensible prior to 
that time. As the bod}' approached the 
Whirlpool, the head seemed to be hang- 
ing to one side, and the body appeared 
to have no life in it. Once it raised a 
little out of the water by an extra eddy, 
but fell back as if lifeless. He believes 
that Webb had endurance enough to 
swim a long distance, but was buffetted 
to death by the pressure of tons upon 
tons of water in the Rapids. Therefore 
he must have been killed or rendered 
insensible ere he got to the Whirlpool, 
into which he was without doubt drawn. 
The rapidity of the current that carried 
Webb to his doom may be gathered 
from the fact that it only took two 
minutes to carry him from the bridge 



115. 

to the Whirpool fully three-fourths of a 
mile distant. Notwithstanding the 
fact that Webb's fatal swim was wit- 
nessed by a large number of people, 
much doubt was expressed as to wheth- 
er he might not have left the river 
alive at some point beyond the 
observation of the spectators. All un- 
certainty on these points were, however, 
removed by the finding of Capt. Webb's 
body about noon on Saturday, July 28, 
1883, four days after his disappearance, 
by Richard VV. Turner, of Youngstown, 
about a mile and a half below, Lewiston. 
Capt. Matthew Webb was a native of 
England and 35 years of age. His fath- 
er lives in Shropshier, England, and 
there were 13 children in the family, 
eight being boys. He learned to swim 
when eight years old, being encouraged 
in his ventures by his father. While 
yet a mere youth, he ran away to sea, 
and during his career before the mast 
became famous for his swimming feats, 
several of which were performed in 
saving human life. In 1872, while in 
South Africa, he won his first laurels as 
a public swimmer, and in a year follow- 
ing received a purse of $500 from the 
passengers of the steamer Russia and a 
medal from the humane society of Lon- 
don for saving the life ot a sailor who 
was washed overboard. The achieve- 
ment that gave him international fame 
was swimming the English channel 
naked and without aid of any kind, on 
which occasion he was in the water 
from 1 p. M. to 11 A. M. the next day. 
When he was dragged out of the water 
at the close of this exploit he was pre- 
sented with $25,000 by the Prince of 
Wales. On one occasion he swam 



116. 

from Sandy Hook to Mauhatten Beach 
daring a storm that drove vessels into 
the harbor. In July, 1882, he beat 
Wade at Coney Island lor the Ameri- 
can championship and at diJEferent times 
has performed wonderful feats in the 
water, of which no record has been 
made. He made his home in Bos- 
ton, where his wife, also of English 
birth and but a few years a resident iu 
America, and two children were at the 
time of his untimely death. Never 
were physical prowess and courage 
worse applied than iu the brave fellow's 
last adventure, which, even if success- 
ful, would have been of no pratical 
service to the world. Captain Webb 
seemed to have realized the danger of 
his undertaking, for in an interview he 
is reported to have said: " The current, 
they say, runs thirty miles an hour, 
and the river is ninety live feet deep. 
It is wide just below the fall and nar- 
rows at the rapids. I am only afraid of 
the two awful ledges of rocks which 
jut out from the shores into the Whirl- 
pool. The water fairly shrieks and 
hisses as it boils over them. Now, I 
want to avoid the sides, and yet I dare 
not go in the middle, for there lies the 
vortex, and that means death. I will go 
out into the river in a small boat just 
above the Suspension Bridge. The 
only clothing I shall wear will be the 
silk trunks I had on when I swam the 
English channel. At the time appoint- 
ted I will leap into the river and float 
into the rapids. Of course I will make 
no attempt to go forward, for the fear- 
ful speed of the water will carry me 
through. When the water gets bad I 
will go under the surface and remain 



117. 



beneath until I am compelled to come 
up lor breath. That will be pretty 
often, I'll wager. When I strike the 
Whirlpool I will strike out with all my 
streuc?th, and try and keep away from 
the suckhole in the centre. I will begin 
with breast strokes and then use over- 
hand strokes. My life will then depend 
upon my mucles and my breath, with a 
little touch of science behind them. It 
may take me two or three hours to get 
out of the Whirl |)ool which is about a 
quarter of a mile long. When I do get 
through I will try and land on the Can- 
adian side, but if the current is too 
strong and swift, as I think it is, I will 
keep on down to Lewiston on the Amer- 
ican side." Captain Webb's body now 
lies in Oakwood Cemetery at Niagara 
Falls, N. Y. , near the grave of Francis 
Abbott, where it was buried July 31st, 
1883, in the presence of his wife and 
numerous spectators, a small but beau- 
tiful monument marking his last resting 
place. 



The **0W Suspension 
Bridge. 



As this was the first Railway Suspen- 
sion Bridge that was ever built in the 
world, a brief history of its construc- 
tion can not fail to be of some interest 
to the reading public. 

For many years the barrier which the 
Niagara River chasm at this point, two 



118. 

miles below the falls, placed between 
Cauada and the States had been regard- 
ed as an obstacle which should be sur- 
mounted, and on April 23, 1846, the pres- 
ent Suspension Bridge Co. received 
its American charter, and on June 9th, 
of the same year, it received its Cana- 
dian charter. In 18 i7 the company or- 
ganized with the following directors : 

American Directors — Wash. Hunt, 
Lot Clark, Samuel DeVeaux, George 
Field, L. Spaulding, I. C. Colton, and 
Charles Evans. 

Canadian Directors— W. H. Merritt, 
Thomas C. Street, James Cunningham, 
Charles B. Stewart, James Oswald, 
Samuel Zimmerman and William O. 
Buchannan. 

The work on the bridge was commenc- 
ed in February, 1848, by Charles Elliet, 
Jr. The first connection between the 
two cliffs was made by a boy named 
Homan Walsh flying a kite, for which 
he received five dollars, across and 
thereby spanning the gorge with a small 
string. Later a cord was drawn over, 
next a rope, and so on until one of suffi- 
cient strength had been secured to draw 
over an iron cable of 36 strands No, 10 
wire. Two small wooden towers having 
been erected one on each bank, the 
wire cable, 1160 feet long, was hauled 
across the chasm, and on the 13th of 
March, 1848, Mr. Elliet and others cross- 
ed in an iron basket suspended from the 
cable. 

This basket was made and designed 
by Judge T. G. Hulett of this city to 
aid in the construction of the suspension 
bridge across the gorge. This basket 
was made of strips of band iron from 
one inch to one and one-half inches in 



119. 

width and fastened with rivets. At 
either end it was considerably hjo-her 
than in the center. There was a seSt at 
either end, their depth being about two 
teet. Ihe manner in which its shape 
was decided upon is interesting. Jud^-e 
Hulett and General EUiet lirst met It 
lu?.^]^ ^^^^^ Tavern in December, 
1847, during the time Thomas W Funl 
ning was proprietor. In the course of 
a conversation upon the great work that 
Cxeneral Elliet had the contract for the 
question of establishing communication 
between the banks by means of a cable 
and basket was discussed and reco'^niz- 
ed as possible. 

The queetiou then arose whether the 
basket siiould be of wood or iron The 
first m^aied material was the choice of 
Elliet, while Judge Hulett favored the 
latter, ihe matter of weight was an im- 
portant fact, and in calculations which 
followed upon the plans of both men it 
wafi founc. that a basket constructed 
from Judge Hulett's plan would be 10 
pounds lighter than one of wood, and it 
was adopted The form of the basket 
was quickly decided by Judge Hulett 
and General EUiett arising from the 
rocking chairs in which they had been 
sitting and drawing them together, 
there is the form of ihe basket," said 
Judge Hulett. The basket proved a 
source of considerable revenue, as the 
charge tor transportation over and back 
was!55lfor each person, and some days 
as high as $125 were taken. 

f'i?® }^^i^^ ¥. "^^ ^" t^e possession 
of the Buflalo Historical Society. 

A foot-bridge, three feet in width 
was soon constructed, and over this a 
great number of perons passed daily, 



joards. 


Vhe 


^uaudw^ 


ed 


ke the- ",. 


u 


hAf 


'-1- 



120. 

each paying 25 cents to the contractor. 
A similar foot-bridge was now formed 
parallel to this, and the basket cable 
in the middle. 

A terrific scene occurred just about 
this time. While the workmen were 
engaged on the second foot-bridge, 
which was constructed about 250 feet 
from the American shore, and about 150 
feet from the British side, a tornado 
from the southwest, struck it, turning 
it quite over. Six men were at work on 
the flooring of the bridge at this awful 
moment, two of whom in a most unac- 
countable manner made th'^^r vvaj t'^ the 
shore upon fragments 
untinished structure -■■ 
backwards and i( r w ai. 
web of a spider, and f 
man beingo 200 feet -^ ^r =' , 

supported by two strar.:- • '' , 

were in consta;it exoer-;!* 
long plunge into tlic r% . 
who can fathom those 
just then ? But the tin 
held them to existence 
enough to outlast tu i 

the first cessation of the sw 3 

a brave fellow workman mau. e 

iron basket, and with a ladder proi., l- 
ed among the pelting of the furious 
rain to save the sufferers. He reached 
the wreck, placed his ladder in com- 
munication with it and the basket thus 
affording a means by which all were 
brought back safe to terra firma, unin- 
jured in person, but well nigh scared to 
death. 

On the 26th of July following, Mr. 
EUiet drove a span of horses and a 
heavy carraige over and back, accom- 
panied by his lady. 



121. 



This was the first bridge built across 
Niagara River and was completed in 
1848° In 1853 the present railroad 
bridf^e was commenced and it was com- 
plete'd in the spring of 1855. The first 
railway train passed over it March 23rd, 
1^55. 

The building of a suspension bridge 
for the purposes for which this one is 
used, was considered an experiment 
when it was projected, and many well 
known engineers predicted its failure. 
Its founders,however,had faith in its able 
engineer, John A. Roebling, who sup- 
erintended its building and carried it to 
completion. 

The cost of the first wagon bridge 
was about $60,000; that of the railway 
structure about $450,000. 

Many improvements have been made 
within the past few years which have 
added a large additional expense. All 
of the woodwork, except the floor, has 
been removed and replaced by iron. 
The massive stone towers have given 
way to steel, so that the bridge was 
greatly beautified as well as strengthen- 
ed by the change. 

This is perhaps the strongest bridge 
of its kind in the world, and not only 
does it present a good view of the falls, 
but also of the rapids below the bridge. 
Under the superiutendance of Mr. 
Thomas Reynolds this bridge is so well 
taken care of that a person feels as safe 
on it as he would on the solid ground. 
The following are the dimensions of the 
railway bridge : 

Length of span from center to cen- 
ter of towers 832 feet. 

Heiwrbt of tower above rock on ^^ 

American Shore 88 



322. 

Heig'ht of tower above rock on 

Canadian Shore 78 feet, 

Hoig-bt of tower above floor of 

railwaj^ — : 60 " 

Height of track above water 258 "■ • 

Number of wire cables 4 

Diameter of each cable 10}4 in , 

No. of No. 9 wires in each cable — i>,659 
Ultimate aj^yregate strength of 

cables 12,400 tons. 

Weight of superstructure 800 " 

Weight of superstructure and max- 
imum loads 1,250 " 

Maximum weight cables and stays 
will support 7,")09 " 

OL the lOtb of October, 18r;4, dnriEfr 
the construction oi' the railway bridge, 
a scaftolcl, upou which four iiieu were at 
work, gave way, precipitating- two of 
them into the gorge below, who struck 
the rocks and rolled into the river, 
while two caught onto the cables. From 
this place they were rescued by Wil- 
liam Ellis, who bravely oft'ered his ser- 
vices when volunteers were called for to 
go to their rescue, and for which service 
he received $25. 

The fare for foot passengers is 10 
cents over and back if returning the 
same day. 



(5cintileY)er {fridge, 



About 300 feet above the old suspen- 
sion bridge is the great cantilever 
bridge. This is a double track railroad 
bridge designed to connect the New 
York Central and Michigan Central 
Railroads. The designs of this struc- 
ture were worked out jointly by C. C._ 
Schneider, chief engineer in charge of 



123. 



the work, and Edward Hayes, engineer 
of the Central Bridge Works. 

The structure consists of two immense 
steel towers, 139 feet 6^ inches high, 
resting on stone piers 39 feet high. 
Each of these towert supports a canti- 
lever 595 feet 5f inches long. The shore 
ends of the cantilevers are anchored to 
the abutment masonry or anchorage 
piers, and both river arms are connect- 
ed by an intermediate span of 120 feet 
which is suspended from the extreme 
ends of the river arms. 

The total length of the bridge proper 
is 910 feet 4| inches between the centers 
of the anchorage piers; the clear span 
between towers being 470 feet. The 
height from the surface of the water to 
base of rail is 239 feet. 

The first engine that ever passed over 
this bridge was the pony engine of 
Superintendent Burrows. They enter- 
ed upon the bridge precisely at 11.43 on 
the Gth day of December, 1883, and moved 
forward quite slowly, and were two min- 
utes in crossing the bridge proper. 
Running close to the edge on the Cana- 
dian shore, where a stop of some five 
minutes was made, when the party re- 
turned to this side in quicker time. 
The final test was made on the 20th day 
of the same month, when 20 heavy en- 
gines and 40 loaded cars were run upon 
the bridge at once. 



12i. 



Hew Suspension Bi'iclge. 



About oue-ei<?lith of a mile below the 
falls is a carriage and foot bridge, Inbuilt 
by Americaa and Canadian capitalists. 
This bridge was built of iron and wood 
and was completed in 1868, and was 
opened for traffic Jan. 2, 1869. This 
bridge stood the brunt of some terrible 
gales in safety for a number of years. 
It was afterwards remodeled and be- 
came practically new. New steel tow- 
ers, anchor pits, iron girders, needle 
beams, suspenders, guys, a widened 
wooden road-way, iron railings and 
other improvements that made it more 
than ever, as it was believed, thorough- 
ly proof against any assault of the ele- 
ments. But hardly had it been com- 
pleted before the deatroyer came. 

What proved to b3 a most disastrous 
gale began to show its teeth on the af- 
ternoon of the ninth of January 1889, 
and gradually increased its force until 
it gained during the night a velocity of 
about 100 miles an hour. Trees, fences, 
outbuildings and numerous other 
things readily succumbed to this ter- 
rific gale, and finally this beautiful 
structure itself yielded to the force of 
the wind and dropped into the gorge 
below. 

The bridge must have fallen about 
3 o'clock on the morning of the 10th. 
None of the bridge or customs officials 
knew just when it fell, and it was not 
until after daylight that the full disas- 
ter became known. The steel towers, 
the four great cables, the anchorages 
and a lot of suspenders were still iu 



125. 

place. Sections of the roadwaj'^ lay at the 
bottom of the bauks ou either side of 
the river, but by far the larger portion 
had dropped into the river and sank to 
the bottom. 

Although no eye saw the disaster, 
yet, at least, two men crossed the bridge 
just before the bridge went down. Dr. 
J. VV. Hodge, who had been called to 
Canada about 10 o'clock, and on his 
return to the American side about mid- 
night, received such an experience that 
he never will forget. He said that it 
was almost impossible to make his way 
across. The movement of the bridge 
was indicative of broken stays, and as it 
rose and fell in undulating swells and 
then seemed to drop bodily many feet, 
and the Doctor thought the roadway 
would certainly break from the cables. 
It is said that a man crossed over to 
Canada, yet later, and had to creep 
over on his hands and knees. 

The length of this bridge, from shore 
to shore, is 1268 ft. The length of cables 
between anchorages is 1828 feet. The 
height of bridge above the water, is 190 
feet. Its towers are 100 feet high. 

While the bridge was being rebuilt 
the following fatal accident occurred : 
About nine o'clock on the morning of 
the 18th of April, 1889, an Italian named 
James Mundi started from the Canadian 
end with a box of bolts for workmen 
some distance out. He carried the box 
on his shoulder, distributing as he went, 
but when he got some distance from the 
Canadian shore he lost his balance and 
fell into the river below, a distance of 
175 feet. Strangely enough the fall did 
not kill him, though one arm was seen 
to be useless, he struck out for the 



12G. 

shore. Planks were thrown from the 
bridge for his assistance, but proved of no 
avail. A boat started for him but be- 
fore it could reach him the poor fellow 
sank and was seen no more. 



[iew)iston B^^^^^g, 



The Lewistou bridge was commenced 
in 1849, and finished in 1850. Oapt. 
Edward Sorrell was its chief engineer 
and Thomas M. Griffith assistant engi- 
neer. The total length of cables was 
1,245 feet and distance between the tow- 
ers 1,040 feet. The bridge was support- 
ed by 10 cables, live on each side, and 
the strength of the bridge was estimated 
at about 835 tons. It had a roadway 20 
feet wide, giving ample room for teams 
to pass and also for a footway. It was 
blown down by a wind storm on April 
16th, 1864, under peculiar circumstan- 
ces. Some time previous there occur- 
red a big ice Jam, and the ice rose higli 
enough to fasten onto the guys and 
those in charge of the structure fearing 
that when the ice went oui it would 
carry the In'idge with it, the guys were 
taken up on the bridge. The ice passed 
out without doing any injury and there 
was a week or more of good weather 
during which the bridge was used as 
usual. But the bridge superintendent 
neglected to replace the guys and the 
wind carried it away as above stated. 
There were two persons on the bridge 
when the wind began to sway it prev- 



127- 

ions to its fall, bnt tbey escaped without 
injury. Tlie capital stock was .f GU.OOO — 
$30,000 American and .i;30,00() Canadian 
— but the American side cost the most 
owing to the towers being somewhat 
higher and were built of Lockport cut 
stone. The Canadian towers were 
built of stone from the Queenston 
quarries near bj^ and were less expensive. 
The old company sold out its franchise, 
bridge, land and approaches thereto to 
Theodore Irwin of Oswego, Sam Sloan 
of New York, and their associates, the 
directors of the R., W. & O. No effort 
was ever made to rebuild the structure 
and the cables and other parts of the 
wreck hang suspended over the river to 
this day. An old report says that some 
years ago a desperate criminal climbed 
over the cables hanging over the river, 
and escaped into Canada from officers 
who were in pursuit. A short time ago 
a young man attempted to give an exhi- 
bition in walking across and fell into 
the water. He escaped with a ducking. 



TWaid of me Mist, 



The Maid of the Mist was a staunch 
little steamer of about 110 tons burden, 
built in 1854, (the first Maid of the 
Mist was built in 1846) and was employ- 
ed in carrying pleasure parties from her 
landing, which was a little above the 
Railwa}^ Suspension Bridge, to the 
falls and back. It being employed in 
this capacity for a number of years, her 
owner conceived the idea of running 



128. 



her tliroiigh the rapids for the purpose 
of getting her clear of a certain mort- 
gage to which she was subject while in 
the locality she then was. For this 
purpose he engaged two sailors who 
were used to running the rapids in the 
St. Lawrence river, but when the day 
came for them to run down the Niagara 
their courage failed them and they 
refused to go, so Mr. Joel R. Robinson 
was appealed to and he agreed to act as 
pilot for this fearful voyage. Mr. 
Jones, the engineer, consented to go 
with him, and Mr. Mclutyre, a machin- 
ist, volunteered his services. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon 
on the sixth day of June, 186 1, these 
three men went on board of the boat. 
Jones took his place in the hold and 
Mclntyre joined Robinson in the wheel 
house, Robinson took his place at the 
wheel. Self-possed and calm, he pulled 
the bell which was the signal anxiously 
waited for by the engineer, which was 
to start them on their perilous journey. 
With a shreik from her whistle and 
the sound of escaping steam she started 
up the stream for a little ways, then 
turning she took her course down the 
river. Many who saw her thought that 
the courage of the intrepid Robinson 
would fail and that he would turn again 
before reaching the rapids below the 
bridge, but on she rushed like a thing 
of life with her crew of brave hearts, 
and shot like an arrow, as many suppos- 
ed into the very jaws of death. When 
about a third of the way down to the 
Whirlpool Rapids she was engulfed 
beneath the mighty waters, her smoke- 
stack was carried away and part of her 
deck stove in, Mr. Robinson was thrown 



129. 



fiat on bis back and Mr. Mclutyre was 
tbrowu agaiust the wheel house with 
such force as to break it through, while 
Jones went down on his knees before 
the glowing furnace, and, as he after- 
wards said, a more earnest prayer never 
was uttered. To that prayer he attrib- 
utes their salvation from a watery 
grave. But emerging from her fearful 
baptism she rushed on at the mercy of 
the waves until she reached the smooth 
water in the Whirlpool on the American 
side where for the iirst time since enter- 
ing this tremendous current Mr. Robin- 
sou again got her under his control. 
Taking a short turn to the right she 
again struck for the middle of the river 
to battle with the mighty waves. Start- 
liug the denizens of the neighboring 
banks by the shrieks of her whistle and 
fighting her way through the rapids 
passing the Devil's Hole, she entered 
the more placid water at Lewiston, a 
triumphant conqueror, in 17^ minutes 
from the time she passed under the 
railway suspension bridge. 

Thus was performed one of the most 
daring feats on record, and many per- 
sons enquire how it was possible for 
them to get through these tremendous 
waters without getting lost. The an- 
swer'invariably is : "I don't know." 

This can not be called a foolhardy 
feat, for Mr. Robinson was a very cool 
and heroic man. He had at various 
times navigated the rapids above the 
falls, when it was necessary for him to 
do so for the purpose of saving life; 
and he had full confidence in himself 
that he could guide the little "Maid" 
through this river of breakers and land 
her safely in the smooth waters below. 



130. 

But he found the water rougher than he 
had anticipated. And to the public eye 
it was simplj' luck and chance that the 
voyage terminated so fortunately. As 
an instance of the coolness of Mr. 
Robinson during this hasty trip, we 
would simply say, that, when Mr Mclu- 
tyre was thrown against the wheel 
house, for some reason or other he was 
unable to arise, so Mr. Robinson put 
his foot gently on his breast to keep 
him from rolling to and fro and thus 
held him until the end of the journey. 
This trip had a decided effect upon Mr. 
Robinson, and some attribute his death 
to this cause, but this is not true, for the 
disease which terminated his life was 
contracted at New Orleans some time 
after. 



Joel R. Robinson, 



Joel R. Robinson was born in Spring- 
field, Mass., on the 27th day of Septem- 
ber, 1808. and at an early date came to 
Niagara Falls, which place he made his 
home until his death. As a navigator 
of the rapids he had no equal, and 
whenever it became necessary to rescue 
a human being from the jaws of those 
fearful waters, Robinson was always 
ready to render all the aid in his 
power. 

In the summer of 1838, while some 
repairs were being made on the bridge 
leading from the main shore to Bath 
Island, a man by the name of Chapin 
fell from the bridge and lodged on a 



131, 



small islrtud below. This islaud which 
is hiirdly more than 30 feet square is 
covered with a few ever<?reeii trees and 
bears his name, who, in all probabilit\ , 
was its first occupant. All eyes were 
turned on Robinson, as the only one 
who could rescue the man from his per- 
ilous position. Robinson launched his 
boat from the foot of Bath Island, pick- 
ing his way skillfully and cautiously 
through the rapids to the little island, 
took Ohapin and brought him safely to 
shore. 

The next instance we have of saving 
life we copy from the work of G. W. 
Hawley :, "In the summer of 1841 , a Mr. 
Allen started for Ghippawa in a boat, 
just before sunsel. Being anxious to 
get across before dark, he applied 
his oars with such vigor that one of 
tbem was broken when he was about 
opposite the middle Sister. With the 
remaining oar he tried to reach the 
head of Goat Island. 'I'he current, 
however, set too strongly towards the 
great Canadian Rapids and his only 
hope was to reach the outer Sister. 
Nearing this and not being able to run 
his boat on it, he sprang out, and, being 
a good swimmer, by a vigorous effort 
succeeded in getting on it. Certain of 
having a lonely, if not a quite unpleas- 
ant night, and being the fortunate pos- 
sessor of two stray matches, he lighted 
a fire and solaced himself with his 
thoughts and his pipe. Next morning, 
taking off his red flannel shirt, he raised 
a signal of distress. Townrds noon the 
unusual smoke and red flag attracted 
attention. The situation was soon as- 
certained and Robinson informed of it. 
Not long after a little red skiff 



132. 



was carried across Goat Island aud 
lauQched iu the cbauuel just below 
Moss Islands. Robinson then pulled 
himself across to the middle Sister and 
tried iu vaiu to find a point where he 
could cross to the outer one. 
Ap{)roachin<j^ darkness compelled him 
to suspeud operations. He rowed back 
to Goat Island, procured some refresh- 
ments, returned to the middle Sister, 
threw them across to Allen and then 
left him to his second night's solitude. 
The next day Robinson took with him 
two long, light, but strong cords, with a 
properly shaped piece of lead weighing 
about a pound. T3'ing the lead to one 
of the lines he threw it across to Allen. 
He then fastened the other end of Al- 
len's line to the bow of the skiff; and 
attaching his own cord to the boat also, 
he shoved it oft. Allen drew it too him- 
self, got into it. pushed off, and Robin- 
son drew him to where he stood on the 
middle island. Then seating Allen iu 
the stern of the skiff he returned across 
the rapids to Goat Island, where both 
were assisted up the bank by the spec- 
tators, and the little craft, too, which 
seemed almost as much of a hero aud as 
great a favorite with the crowd as Rob- 
inson himself." 

This WHS the second individual rescu- 
ed by Robinson from islands which had 
been considered totally inaccessible. 
It is no exaggeration to say that there 
was not another man on the globe that 
could have saved Chapin and Alien as 
he did. His laurels as *' Navigator of 
the Rapids" can never fade or decay. 
They are made perenial by the gener- 
ous motives and humane acts through 
which they were won. 

Joel R. Robinson died June 30, 1863. 



133. 

Index, 



mi XT- T»- Page, 
ihe Niaf2;ara Kiver 3 

The Griffiu 4 

The Old Stoue Chimney 6 

The Campaign of 1759..! 9 

Indian Strategy 10 

Devil's Hole Massacre 12 

Tuscaror a Reservation. 14 

The War of 1812 16 

The Surrender of Hull 17 

A Naval Engagement 18 

The battle of Qiieenstou Heights 20 

Capture of Fort George 30 

Battle of Stony Creek 35 

Heroine Laura Secord 38 

A General Campaign 42 

British Cross the Border 45 

Perry on Lake Erie 47 

American Citizens Impressed 48 

The Army Disciplined 52 

Capture of Fort Erie 55 

The Battle of Chippawa 55 

Battle of Lundy's Lane 61 

Drummond at Fort Erie 71 

Sortie from Fort Erie 73 

Resume 75 

Burning of the Caroline 76 

The Hermit of Niagara 84 

Avery on the Log 91 

Pierce's Novel Brigade 106 

An Indian Adventure 108 

A Narrow Escape 110^ 

Capt. Webb's Last Swim 112- 

The "Old" Suspension Bridge 117 

Cantilever Bridge 122 

New Suspension Bridge 124 

Lewiston Bridge 126 

Maid of the Mist 127 

Joel R. Robinson 130 



To Sportsmen. 

Persons Wishing for 

A Good Day's Sport 

Cannot do better than take a trip to the 
ancient and beautiful vilhiye of 

• LEVy^IST0N • 

Situated at tlie head of navlf>at ion on the low- 
er Niagara, where 

Fish are in Abundance. 



And the facilities for catching are 
ample and convenient. There are no 
dangerous rapids to be drawn into and 
hurried over a mighty fall while fish- 
ing, but the stream is placid and still. 

Boats aud All Kinds of Fishing 
Tackle can be Obtained 



iipiEPJI HOTEL, 

An old and well established house. 

•H. G. Cornell, Prop,, 



Will spare no pains to please all who 
give him a call. 



Has become one of the 

most Famous SDimoer Resorts 

Ou Lake Ontario. 

BHaBH 
Not only does Lake Island Park draw its 

The Facilities for Boating, Bathing and 
Fishing are Unsurpassed, 

^""^ hn^^*^ Vf^^ *° ^"^«>^ *^^ comforts of a 
SoTo'al till ""^"^"^' "^ ''^''^ «l^-t« <^-^ 

Hotel SotiieriaDii, 

Which is conveniently located. 

The House is En tirely Ne w 

And was built especially for the conven- 
venience of tourists. It has many 
rooms with all modern im- 
provements, and its ge- 
nial proprietor, 

IF*. B. SEOOI^ID 

Will do all in his power to please the 
Most Fastidious. 



- To Reep Posted ^^^ 


3 


THe Slirriiig HiGidents of tHe 
«s Kiapra Froijtier ® 





Yoli should subscribe for 



Tie lliagara Falls Journal. 



$1.50 Per Vear. 



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TOURISTS' 



LiGi aM Simple Room. 



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